In the history of Cabrillo High School, the Jaguars have only won three Moore League championships, and never back-to-back. Tina Thanh Tran’s badminton program won one of those league championships last year, a shared championship with Lakewood. This year, the Jaguars are on the cusp of history as they’re poised to win another title, which would be the fourth in school history and first back-to-back crown.
The Jaguars solidified their position last week with a 16-5 win over second-place Long Beach Poly, but Thanh Tran isn’t ready to take a victory lap just yet.
“Although we are currently in first, we are preparing and training hard,” she said. “We expect to finish strong but we’re not underestimating anybody.”
No one is underestimating the Jaguars, who are undefeated in league. Their boys’ doubles pair of Aron Camain and Joseph Galima have gone undefeated, as has their girls’ doubles of Rheanne Bergenholtz and Maricar Reyes.
Mykel Mendoza, the school’s top boys’ singles player, is third in the league with losses to Lakewood and Millikan’s top players and Kaithyn Reyes is also in third with losses to Lakewood and Wilson.
The Jaguars will share a court with the rest of the league’s best next week for the Moore League championships, hosted at Poly. The singles final is Monday, April 15th, the doubles are Tuesday and the mixed doubles are Wednesday.
