Monday marks the official beginning of the high school winter sports season, with boys’ and girls’ basketball and soccer, girls’ water polo, and wrestling set to dominate the headlines for the next three months. It’s no surprise that the big name programs in each sport look set up to have the best seasons.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for full previews.
Basketball
Long Beach Poly is in Division 1 for both boys’ and girls’ basketball, where they’re joined for the first time by St. Anthony. The Saints’ girls’ team has competed in Division 1 before but this will be a new trip to the big stage for the Saints’ boys’ program, which has been fluoroshing under head coach Allen Caveness.
Wilson’s boys’ and girls’ teams will be trying to continue their upward trend this season as well.
Soccer
Millikan and Wilson have become (or remained) the dominant programs on the pitch for boys’ and girls’ soccer, and those are the two Division 1 programs on both sides. The Cabrillo boys’ will look for some more playoff success in Division 2 after the Jaguars’ boys’ water polo team made the semifinals this Fall.
Girls’ Water Polo
It should be another fun girls’ water polo season as Wilson tries to win a second consecutive CIF championship and Poly tries to defend its league championship against a hungry Bruins squad. Millikan will have a strong chance at a CIF title in Division 4 as well.
Wrestling
The Moore League runs through Millikan and the Rams will open the season ranked highly, at No. 4 in the CIF-SS Division 3 poll. Lakewood is No. 8.