Gratified Moment for Varsity Girls’ Water Polo

ANHAYTE GUAJARDO
Staff Writer

Varsity Girls’ water polo have proven exactly what they are capable of. After countless hours of practicing in the water, they completed their preseason with a record of 4-5, and their league season record of 2-2 with a qualification in California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Preliminaries.

After claiming victory against Mark Keppel High School on Feb.11, the team qualified for CIF for the first time in 20 years. A week after their win, the girls played their first round of CIF against Newbury Park High School on Feb.17. After putting up a strong fight throughout the game, the team ended their year with a 1-8 loss.

“I felt that we all worked really hard the whole season, and the fact that we made it showed that. It was a really great feeling knowing it’s been a long time since girls’ waterpolo had made it to CIF for our school and I was just really proud and honored to have such an amazing team to work with,” setter Joyce Hong said.

With the accomplishments made this year, in both girls’ and boys’ varsity, the team and the school have come across new enthusiasm for next year’s winter season. This tightly bonded group of girls is now more determined with the help of Head Coach Adrian Lopez to grow in strength and improve from this year’s mistakes. In order to defeat one of the toughest schools in the league, Montebello High School, and once again move on to CIF, the team encourages athletes who would like to contribute to the team next year to also join the swim team this fall season in order to start building their core and get them prepared with constantly having to be in the water.

“Our last game showed us that we are capable of making it to CIF, but still need work to win that game. By joining swim, we will enter next season with more confidence and work harder in practice to be able to go farther than what we were able to achieve this year,” setter Sabrina Navarro said.