As they get ready for the 2017-18 season the Winters High School athletic programs are strong in numbers and in talent. Last week, we covered the girls soccer team and the boys basketball teams, so this week we will take a look at the girls basketball teams, the boys soccer team and the wrestling team.
The varsity girls basketball team is still run by longtime coach Matt Cooley. Cooley is looking forward to a competitive season with this year’s group.
“They are a good group of kids,” Cooley said. “We have three returning starters with Alexis Garcia, Sheila Mora and JorDann Jones and returning players Makenzie Tuttle, Mayce Newcomb and Anne Guidici. We also have Dariana Aceves, Jessica Bermudez, Nataly Hernandez, Valarie Soto, Marin Spalding and freshman AliAnn Iten. “It should be a fun year.” The Warriors will play their first game at home on Dec. 5, against St Helena.
The boys soccer team has a full squad with 22 players on the team still under the direction of coach Pedro Ceja. The Warriors will be looking to improve on last years overall record of 5-8-2 and their 3-5 league record. Winters lost their season opener against Will C Wood High School on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
The JV girls basketball team is once again under the direction of coach Tom Crisp. The Warriors have 13 players, six of whom are returnees Aide Aguilera, Annie Ramos, Audrey Saechao, Maggie McCrary, Rosie Kakutani and Brooke Benson.
“Due to fall sports finishing late and injuries we have yet to have all thirteen participating at a practice,” Crisp said. “We have a wide range of basketball experience so it has been a challenge to get everyone up to speed. The veterans have been very helpful, however, in guiding the new players. I’m hoping to utilize our press defense a little more than in the past couple of years in order to generate more offense.”
The wrestling team is small in numbers on the boys’ side but is increasing on the girls’ side.
“We have four girls out this year,” said coach Andy Gomez. “Vanessa Ceja, Valeria Ceja, Eli Moore and Elaina Corliss. They are talented too, so the future looks bright for them.
“We have seven boys right now, with five of them eligible to compete: Kendrick Borchard, Albert Ramos, Brandon Gomez, Angel Vital, Dylan Adams, Tyler Perez and Ben Perez. Our numbers are down from the past few years but the talent is there.”
