NEWS AND NOTES FROM PRESS ROW: Pair of Valley Christian athletes, one from La Mirada advance to Masters Meet

May 21, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

A third of the area track and field athletes, or relay teams, who participated in last Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section Divisional Finals have moved on to Saturday’s Masters Meet, the last step before the state finals. Two of three athletes, all from field events, are from Valley Christian High while the other is from La Mirada High.

In the girls pole vault, V.C. junior Celia Polk finished third in Division 4 with a distance if 10’ 7” while V.C. junior Micah Carter had the division’s second best mark in the shotput at 52’ ½”. In Division 3, senior Daniel Morales has the top distance in the discus throwing 166’ 10”.

V.C. senior Eden Patton had the fourth best mark in Division 4 in the 300 hurdles at 47.74 and V.C. senior Jackson TerKurf placed third in the discus with a mark of 141’ 00”. Three other individuals and one relay team finished no higher than sixth place in their division.

BASEBALL

When the CIF-Southern Section playoffs began on May 12, six of the area eight teams were vying for a divisional championship and one week later, three teams are still alive. In Division 1, La Mirada, seeded 15^th, fell to second-seeded Harvard-Westlake High 3-0 in the first round of a new 16-team, double elimination format. But last Friday, the Matadores bounced back to eliminate seventh-seeded Temecula Valley High 9-2, then kept their season alive with an 11-1 win over No. 10 Huntington Beach High this past Tuesday. Senior pitcher Jacob Oropeza, who got the save against Temecula Valley, picked up the win against Huntington Beach while sophomore Julian Pardinas, who started this past Tuesday, got the win last Friday. La Mirada (24-7) will host sixth-seeded St. John Bosco High on Friday in a quarterfinal contest.

In a Division 2 quarterfinal game this past Tuesday, Gahr High led Aquinas High 3-1 entering the bottom of the seventh inning but allowed three runs and was eliminated. The Gladiators (18-11-1) had faced the Falcons on May 6, posting a 6-5 victory but in the rematch, was denied a trip to the semifinals for the first time since 2012. Since then, Gahr has reached the quarterfinals five times.

In Division 8, Artesia High doubled up Magnolia High 10-5 this past Tuesday to improve to 12-15. The Pioneers will entertain Schurr High on Friday in the quarterfinals, the second straight season and third in the past four the Pioneers have reached this far.

In Division 5, V.C. rallied to tie Culver City High in the bottom of the seventh inning last Friday but gave up a pair of runs in the eighth and was eliminated 8-6, ending its season at 15-11. The Defenders have not been past the first round since 2015.

SOFTBALL

Just like the area baseball teams, six out of the seven area softball teams advanced to the playoffs, but only La Mirada remains standing after the first two rounds. The Matadores (24-4) defeated Los Alamitos High 4-2 last Thursday in Division 1 and Palos Verdes High 3-0 last Saturday. The fourth-seeded Matadores, who are making their second straight trip to the quarterfinals, hosted Etiwanda High on May 21.

In Division 2, Gahr was ousted by Mater Dei High 3-1 last Saturday, ending its season at 16-13 while in Division 3, V.C. was eliminated by Oak Park High 10-4 last Friday to conclude the season at 12-9.

Also last Friday, Cerritos High fell to Shadow Hills High 8-3 in a Division 5 first round contest, leaving the Dons to a 12-7 record for the 2026 season. Also in the division, Norwalk High dropped a 6-2 decision to Ontario High last Friday to conclude its season at 15-11-1.

Finally, in a Division 7 first round affair last Friday, Artesia dropped a 2-1, nine-inning affair to Cathedral City High to wrap up the season at 10-12.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

A trio of former area high school softball standouts will be hoping their college teams will win a pair of games this weekend, thus advancing to the NCAA Women’s College World Series.

In the best two out of three Super Regionals, former Cerritos standout Katelyn Caneda, a senior at the University of Nebraska, and her teammate, ex-Gahr standout Natalia Hill, now a sophomore, will be hosting Oklahoma State University May 21-23 with the last game if necessary.

In Gainesville, FL, the University of Florida will be hosting Texas Tech University, with last season’s La Mirada graduate Angelyna Conde.

The winners of the Super Regionals will advance to the WCWS in Oklahoma City. Last season, Texas Tech fell to the University of Texas in the best of three finals, losing Game 1 2-1, winning the next game 4-3 before falling in Game 3 10-4.