Winter Sports Update 01/06/09
Posted January 6th, 2009 in Athletics, High School Comments Off
Happy New Year Lancer Family,
I hope all of you had a relaxing and wonderful two week celebration of the birth of our savior. The break was good to our athletic programs as they participated in numerous tournaments all over California. There is a lot of winning going on around here and the girls, boys, and coaches are doing a good job of keeping us competitive. So here is how it went:
CHEER
2nd Place Finish at Nationals in Florida
Congratulations to our cheer team that received several awards including: First place in showmanship, First place in duos for 11th and 12th grade, 2nd place nationally
The bid for first was tighter than ever seen before in 20 years of the national competition and judges had to spend about a half hour of awards time reviewing tapes of the performances of the top two squads over and over to decide. We were most proud of our girls who were very gracious by giving a standing ovation to the new national first place team. Even the head of FCC said, it was a first class act of our girls to honor the other team in front of an audience of about 2000 people.
Congratulations also to Western for being chosen one of five national finalist for cheer team of the decade, representing the best of cheer teams in the nation competitively, as well as through service in missions, leadership and Christian character. Our congratulations to the coaches, including head coach Amy Roggemann for an outstanding job representing Western Christian.
This victory for Western is really a small testimony of the many dedicated coaches and faculty that give of themselves for The WC every day.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Boys Basketball Improve to 9-4; Best Start in 5 Years
With a current record of 9-4, the varsity boys’ basketball team had a busy and successful month of December. After their 4-0 start, the Lancers suffered two tough losses to Baldwin Park and Linfield Christian before bouncing back in the Cornerstone Christian Tournament with three straight wins. James Duruaku turned in solid scoring and rebounding performances, and Sammy Santillano broke loose for 28 points in the win over Cornerstone to lead Western to a third place finish.
After Christmas, the Lancers headed to Calabasas for the four day Viewpoint Tournament, opening with a 58-48 win against the host school. Following a difficult two point loss to Pasadena Poly, the boys rebounded with a 59-53 victory over Sherman Oaks CES. Sophomore Mark McMahon contributed 19 points and 17 rebounds to compliment Santillano’s 23 points (5 three pointers). Playing for 5th place, Western matched up against big school and former CIF Champs Monrovia High School, and trailed by 9 points entering the fourth quarter. With a strong defensive effort, the Lancers began the quarter with a valiant 12-0 run and forced the game into overtime, but came up short in the extra period, losing a 70-63 heartbreaker.
Senior and co-captain James Duruaku was an all-tournament selection in all three of the preseason tournaments, leading Coach Jeff Wheeler to comment: “When the team excels, individuals are rewarded.”
Following Wednesday’s nonleague matchup at Arroyo, the team opens league play on the road against Ontario Christian Friday night at 7:30P.
2008 Webb School of California Invitational All Tournament Team:
Sammy Santillano Western Christian Tournament MVP
James Durauku Western Christian
GIRLS SOCCER
Lady Lancers Go 4-2 Over Break; Two Overtime and Penalty Kick Victory vs. Big School Paseo Robles
The Lady Lancers played in the Santa Maria soccer tournament on Dec 29-30 and made a strong showing. In the first game, Western Christian beat big school Pioneer Valley 2-1. Gabby Trujilo scored the first goal for WC. After PVHS tied the game at 1-1, Western came right back with their 2nd goal.
Niki Povero drove the ball down the left side and then made a nice cross that Marissa Reggio put away for the game wining goal. WC goal keeper Crystal Hernandez made several key saves to help the Lady Lancer cause.
The 2nd game against Paseo Robles ended in a 3-3 tie at the end of regulation. Gabby Trujilo scored 2 goals and Marissa Reggio scored one goal for WC. The teams then played two 5-min overtime periods with neither team scoring. Since the game was still tied, the teams went into penalty kicks to decide the winner. After five PK attempts, both schools had made 4 each. Western Christian was successful on their 6th & 7th PK’s. Western Christian goal keeper Crystal Hernandez blocked the 7th PK attempt from Paseo Robles to give the Lady Lancers the hard fought victory. Western Christian lost the next 2 games of the tournament 2-0 and 3-0 to finish in 4th place in the tournament.
The Lady Lancers had a couple of days off before hopping on a boat over to Catalina Island for two games against Avalon HS on January 2-3. Avalon HS was clearly over matched by the Western Christian girls. Western Christian won both games by lopsided margins of 10-0 and 13-1.
Scoring was led by Gabby Trujilo and Marissa Reggio who each scored 8 total goals over the two games. The Rhinehart sisters, Rebecca & Hannah, each had two goals for Western Christian. Kara Quintana also had two goals and Hannah Cortez score 1 goal.
BOYS SOCCER
Below are the stats of our WCHS Boys Varsity Soccer Team while playing at Ontario Christian’s Christmas Classic.
Go Lancers!
· December 29, 2008 @ 1200 Noon
Valley Christian-3
Western Christian-0
· December 30, 2008 @ 7:30 AM
Viewpoint-4
Western Christian-1
(WCHS goal scored by Zach Watkins on a PK)
· December 30, 2008 @ 10:30 AM
Western Christian-4
(Goals scored by Anthony Llorens, Zach Watkins, Reed Covington; David Bitolas (DJ))
Mary Star of the Sea School-1
GIRLS BASKETBALL
NO REPORT: The Lady Lancers went 1-2 in the Woodcrest Tourney beating Riverside Christian 53-34 and losing games to Desert Christian 33-44 and Ontario Christian 20-44. The ladies rebounded for a nail biting victory on Jan. 3 against Linfield Christian beating the Lions 34-33. Lauren Gonzalez is leading the team in scoring with 16.7 point per game. The Lancers are led in rebounding by Sarah Mutch with 88 and Emily Cobb with 60.
