San Marcos had a strong overall season this year in Winter Sports. With teams bonding together over the mid-school-year season and dominating their courts, fields, and pools respectively. All teams were on top in Channel League, and students showed lots of support coming out to cheer on the teams.
Boys Basketball:
Boys basketball had an exciting season that started off strong. Playing against Newbury Park, the Royals won 78-55. The team had a long season with their overall wins to losses being 14-14. Despite many injuries and illnesses, the team powered through and played smart, allowing them to move on to CIF by placing 4th overall in Channel League. They defeated cross-town rivals Dos Pueblos twice. On February 7th, they lost their first round to North Shore High School.
“I think it was a great season.” said junior Danny Diaz. “We played tough teams and we played well together. I am sad that the seniors are leaving but the future is bright for the juniors and sophomores on the team.”
Girls Basketball:
With a varsity team of 12 players spanning across all four grades, the Girls Basketball team was led by coach Tiffany Simms, and four senior team captains Mia Martinez, Carley Nielson, Natasha Stapf, and Natasha Bender. Their overall record this season is 12-11, and their league record is 5-8. They closed out their season on February 1st in a game against Pacifica.
“I love my team, ” said junior Gianna Mandarino. “They are some of the nicest and most fun girls to be around. They are like family. We all go out a lot and hang out outside of basketball as well.”
Boys Soccer:
Boys soccer had a strong season with their first game against San Luis Obisbo where they won 7-2. They placed 5th overall in Channel League, winning a total of eight wins, five ties and four losses. Their last game was against Oxnard, which ended in a 2-2 tie. -Having team dinner
“We started off pretty good with a lot of close games. We felt like a team since the first practice,” said senior Easton Rose. “We had a lot of difficult teams and rough decisions but fought till the end.”
Girls Soccer:
Girls soccer season started off strong with a win against Santa Ynez 2-1. They destroyed Santa Barbara twice by 3-0 each time they played, and tied with Dos Pueblos 0-0. Their overall scores the season was seven wins, ten ties and only two losses. They ended their season placing 6th overall in the Channel League.
“It was great, I got to know through team bonding and experience and through the season my teammates better and by knowing them well it definitely helped us play a lot better as a unified team.” said varsity soccer player Ceci Mock.
Wrestling:
Boys wrestling had a great season with some amazing team leaders. Both team captains of the San Marcos wrestling team, seniors Angel Estrada and Charles “Chuck” Wickline, played amazingly this season. These two leaders have devoted their time and energy to the new wrestling team at San Marcos, which now boasts a roster of many fresh faces compared to last year’s. The team had a large overall defeat against cross-town rivals Santa Barbara, winning in almost every single weight class. Their last meet was Saturday, February 3rd, for the Channel League Championship where they lost in the first round.
“I am really proud of how much this team has improved and all the new faces we saw this season.” said sophomore Austin Javanbakht.
Girls Water Polo:
Dominating in League and placing 2nd overall in Channel League, the girls water polo team has had a stellar season. Out of 25 games, they won 19 of them and are continuing in Division 1 for CIFs. They have an upcoming CIF game on Thursday at Dos Pueblos at 5:00 p.m. This will be the first time they will be playing Dos Pueblos for the first round of CIF in the team’s history.
“I think this season was great overall.” said senior Makenna Stretz. “We had a small and younger team, but we were able to come together and develop a bunch of athletes and though we didn’t end how we wanted to end, I think everyone stepped up and filled in a bunch of roles for a great season overall.”
Overall, San Marcos Athletics has had an amazing winter season and we are super excited to see more Royals shine this spring. Congratulations to all winter athletes! Girls Beach Volleyball will play Dos Pueblos on February 20th. For more scheduling information check out the San Marcos website’s homepage for home games.
