Cerritos High catcher Celeste Borza will be showcasing her talents at the University of Texas, San Antonio.
Whitney High infielder Ashley Iseri has signed to play at Hawai’i Pacific University.
By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on Twitter
It was National Letter of Intent signing day for high school athletes on Nov. 9 and a pair of four-year varsity softball players, who are also members of the California A’s travel team, made it official with their signatures. Cerritos High catcher Celeste Borza will be showcasing her talents at the University of Texas, San Antonio while Whitney High infielder Ashley Iseri has signed to play at Hawai’i Pacific University.
Borza batted .286 as a freshman for the Lady Dons in 15 games played and did not make an error behind the plate. As a sophomore, Borza hit .268 and struck out just three times in 21 games played. A wrist injury sidelined Borza for most of the 2016 season and was limited to seven games of action while not having a plate appearance.
Iseri has been nothing short of a hitting machine for the Lady Wildcats throughout her entire high school career and has posted some of the best numbers in the nation. In 13 games as a freshman, Iseri, who was her team’s first baseman, batted .829 with 15 hits. The next season, Iseri hit .629 with 31 hits, 32 runs batted in, 23 runs scored, six doubles, three triples and one home run. Last season, she moved to shortstop and was on top of the leader board again with a .722 average, 52 hits, 40 RBI, 29 runs scored, 16 doubles, eight triples and three home runs.
CROSS COUNTRY
It has been a historic season for the Cerritos High boys cross country team as it has advanced to the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section finals for the first time in school history. The Dons finished in 10th place in their heat out of 23 teams in Division 3 action last Saturday in the preliminaries at the Riverside City Cross Country Course and picked up 284 team points.
Senior Bill Chuang was the team’s top runner, coming in 21st place with a time of 15:38. Freshman Cole Sawires Yager was next with a time of 16:25 followed by juniors Mario Amaro (16:29), Jaineel Patel (16:44) and Fredrick Inada (16:53). The team is rounded out by senior Jiwoo Choi and junior Vraj Patel.
Also in the division, Gahr High came in 13th place with 304 team points while Norwalk High picked up 430 team points and finished in 18th place. The top Gahr runners were senior Adrian Casas, who came in 20th place with a time of 15:38 and junior Steven Delatorre (16:21). Norwalk’s leading runners were sophomore Jacob Castro (16:22) and senior Alberto Cano (16:27).
In Division 4 action, the Whitney High boys team qualified for the finals by finishing in 11th place in its heat out of 22 teams. Junior Justin Hogenauer was the Wildcat’s top runner, coming in 48th place with a time of 17:02. The next Whitney runner was junior Elijah Huang with a time of 17:16. After him were junior Andrew Cheng (17:29), junior Daniel Lin (17:34) and senior Keidy Wuang (17:53). Sophomores Taylor J. Vernon and Alvin To complete the team.
The Valley Christian High boys team was tops in its heat of 25 teams with 31 points. Junior Ryan Vreeke was second with a time of 16:10 and was 15 seconds behind Cate High’s Kyril Van Schendel. Finishing in fourth place was junior Josh Rupprecht with a time of 16:12.
Three other V.C. runners came in the top 12 with eighth place finisher sophomore Mark Szekrenyi (16:29), 11th place finisher senior Nathaniel Tamminga (16:34) and junior Hayden Lee, who was a second behind Tamminga. Junior Payton Kooi and sophomore Blake Wheeler are the other V.C. runners.
On the girls side, Norwalk advances to the finals by virtue of its fourth place finish in its heat. The Lady Lancers, who picked up 126 points, were led by the dynamic duo of juniors Misty Diaz (17:42) and Ruby Galindo (18:03) who finished in second and sixth respectively. Senior Alejandra De La O was 36th with a time of 19:36. Junior Jessica Robles (19:44) and freshman Natalie Juarez (19:53) round out the scoring participants with sophomores Yajaira Gonzalez and Viviana Rios completing the team of seven.
Also in the division, Cerritos came in 15th place and was led by sophomore Jaide Lin, who was 51st with a time of 19:52. The next Cerritos runners were juniors Marie Chu (21:33), Laura Sato (21:50) and Brianna Katsuda (21:53). Seniors Eunice Lee (22:19), Gina Huh and sophomore Patricia Gomez complete the team.
Whitney finished in 18th place with 469 points in Division 4 action with its top runner being junior Sunitha Vallinayagam, who was 65th with a time of 20:57. Following her were sophomores Emma Centeno (21:30) and Christine Hamakawa (22:09), junior Ashley Scott (23:13) and sophomore Anjika Morari (23:42). The other two Lady Wildcats are sophomore Sara Ryave and junior Angelina Crittenden.
Valley Christian moved on to the finals as well as the Lady Crusaders came in fifth place in their Division 5 heat with 150 points. Junior Marian Ledesma was second with a time of 19:12, four seconds slower than Woodcrest Christian High’s Marissa Thompson. Junior Molly Oeh (21:31) was V.C.’s next runner and finished in 31st place. Not too far behind were freshmen Kathryn Tamminga (21:39) and Cameron Erickson (21:40). Freshman Bethany Rubio had a time of 22:41 while the other two V.C. runners are junior Destinee Montenegro and senior Lindsey Slenik.
BOYS BASKETBALL
The winter season, for the most part, kicks off on Nov. 28 when students return from the Thanksgiving break. But the Gahr High boys basketball team will start early by playing Redondo Union High on Monday in the first round of the Pacific Shores Tournament, hosted by Redondo. The Gladiators will wrap up that tournament on Nov. 26.
