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July 14, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
This is the sixth in a series of stories on the new Suburban Valley Conference which involves 20 schools from the 605 League, Del Rio League, Gateway League and Mid-Cities League. The SVC will begin with the 2026-2027 school year and over the next month and a half, I will be getting comments from the athletic directors of the area schools on what it has been like the past year and the effects the new SVC will have on their respective schools this upcoming school year and beyond.
WHITNEY HIGH-INSIDE THE NUMBERS OF THE EIGHT MAJOR SPORTS WHILE IN THE 605 LEAGUE SINCE 2018
Football: Does not field a football program
Girls volleyball: 44-26 league record, one league title, second place three times, third place once
Boys basketball: 30-45 league record, third place four times, fourth place twice
Girls basketball: 58-17 league record, three league titles, second place four times
Boys soccer: 12-56-5 league record, second place once, third place once, fifth place twice
Girls soccer: 10-9-1 league record, third place once, fourth place once
Baseball: 3-37 league record, fifth place once, sixth place three times
Softball: 12-48 league record, third place once, fifth place three times, sixth place twice
CIF-Southern Section divisional championships: None
CIF-Southern Section divisional finalist: once
CIF-Southern Section semifinalist: once
CIF-Southern Section quarterfinalist: five times
From the beginning of the 1998-1999 school year until the 605 League was formed, a good chunk of the Whitney High athletic teams struggled in the Delphic League and the Academy League. In fact, the consistent successful athletic programs of the major sports, were girls volleyball and girls basketball. Now with the new SVC beginning next month, Whitney appears to be in decent shape as they are situated in either of the top two leagues of the conference, the Gateway League or the Mid-Cities League, in six of the seven fall sports the school has and in five other sports from the winter and spring seasons combined.
Most schools would take such odds considering Whitney is one of two schools in the conference that does not offer an 11-man football program and has the third fewest enrollment numbers of the 20 schools. With that said, Whitney co-athletic director Marlene Jollensten seems to be okay with the structure of the conference based off how the past year has been with all the monthly meetings that took place with the other athletic directors and principals.
“Did we decide on the decisions that I was expecting,” questioned Jollensten. “Not for everything, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
She said that at the beginning of the year, the athletic directors were still picturing how to put the schools in their proper leagues for cross country, track and field and wrestling, which happens to be the last item of business to work on before school begins in a month. Jollensten said she didn’t have enough information or opinions from the other athletic directors as to which direction they were going to go.
Of the area schools, Whitney is the only one besides Cerritos High that will be in one of the two upper leagues in at least six of the eight fall sports. Not bad for a school that had an enrollment of just over 1,000 students for the 2023-2024 school year, ahead of only Firebaugh High (632) and John Glenn High (945). The Whitney girls golf and girls tennis teams will be running with the best in the Gateway League for at least this fall while its boys water polo, girls volleyball and both cross country teams are in the Mid-Cities League.
“I will say that I did like how many of our teams ended up in the top two leagues,” said Jollensten. “It really speaks volumes about how well our programs have been doing. I think sometimes the kids can be overlooked because we’re known for academics. Just because we’re good at academics doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re only good at that. The kids are phenomenal while they’re out. So, I will say that I’m very pleased…that they’re also athletes. I’m excited to see how they compare to everybody else.”
The Whitney girls volleyball team won three straight Delphic League titles from 1998-2000 under three different head coaches, reaching the semifinals once while losing in the quarterfinals in another. However, the Wildcats finished no better than fourth place in the Academy League from 2002-2011, missing the playoffs for those eight seasons. But as members of the 605 League, Whitney finished north of fourth place five times and reached the postseason four times.
Jollensten admitted that it’s going to be easier and harder to make the CIF-Southern Section playoffs because, in her words, everyone has a good shot of making the postseason but easier if you were in a league where you were towards the bottom more than the top.
While the boys and girls cross country teams are going to begin the SVC era in the Mid-Cities League, the competition is going to be much tougher with the likes of California High, Gahr High, Norwalk High and Santa Fe High for the boys and California, Cerritos High, Paramount High and Santa Fe for the girls.
“I think we’re in a position where I know we’re going to perform well; again because this is supposed to be more equitable,” said Jollensten on her cross country teams.
For the winter sports, the boys basketball team finished in third place the past four seasons but because of the CIF-SS rankings the past two seasons, the ‘Cats will be in the 605 League, or last league for at least this upcoming season along with Firebaugh, John Glenn, Lynwood High and Whittier High. What will be new for the Wildcats this winter is the return of a girls soccer program, which will be in the 605 League along with Firebaugh, Glenn, Oxford Academy and Pioneer High. Whitney has not had a girls soccer team since the 2019-2020 season and dating back to the 1997-1998 season, the program has finished in either fifth or sixth place 14 times. In fact, the Wildcats have reached the playoffs three times over the past 23 seasons of having a girls soccer program, losing in the wild card twice and the first round once.
For the spring sports, the Wildcats will be in the Gateway League for boys and girls swimming and boys tennis and the Mid-Cities League for boys golf and boys volleyball. Yet to be finalized are the league placements for girls beach volleyball and track and field for the spring sports and wrestling, which Whitney has never fielded a program for the winter sport.
“I think we’ve established ourselves from the powerhouse [programs],” said Jollensten of the spring sports. “Most of the teams in the Gateway League are teams that we normally schedule against anyway for our non-league games. So now, we get to play them twice. Again, I think we’re in a good position.”
Besides girls soccer, Whitney did not have a baseball program from 2021-2023, and did not field a team in 2016, and was without a softball team in 2009 and this past season. Baseball, which will be in the 605 League, is the only major sport at the school without a playoff appearance since at least 1998. With the return of girls soccer this upcoming season, Jollensten said she would like to see the other sports field a team.
“That’s kind of my goal; to make sure that the teams that are going in and out are staying strong,” she said. “I’ll talk about girls soccer; without the number of girls [to put together a] water polo team this upcoming season, which means the only other girls team we have for the winter is girls basketball. I really wanted to push the girls soccer option, and we had enough girls for this upcoming [season]. We have a pretty good group of girls who are interested. and I think they will be interested, hopefully, for years. Now it’s just my job to continue to find other girls who are [also interested]. The same will also apply for softball and the other sports.”
The athletic directors of the original six 605 League sports have talked about how close knit of a group it has been for the past eight years. Obviously, it won’t be the same with a 20-member SVC and there will be challenges ahead for not just the original 605 League top brass, but the same will be true for the four former Del Rio League personnel who will merge with the other 10 schools from the original SVC.
Jollensten said one of the biggest challenges will be getting to know each other for usage of the different facilities, citing that each school is different. She used her gym as an example as the City of Cerritos also uses the gym, meaning there are days and nights on which Whitney can’t conduct any sporting events, or their practices are subjected to being cut short. Because of that, the basketball and volleyball teams don’t get as much practice time as the other schools do.
“It’s going to take everyone’s understanding to really make this work because the way we [did it before], we put out fires every day,” said Jollensten. “We can plan everything 100 percent, but I guarantee you you’re going to get calls every single day because something didn’t go the way it should have. I think it’s just going to take some understanding of each other.”
While Jollensten said there’s no particular school from the former Del Rio League, Gateway League or Mid-Cities League she’s looking forward to facing, she is looking forward to the different competition her athletic teams will be playing for the first year of the SVC. She added that she’s looking forward to building relationships with the personnel from the schools that she already doesn’t have, especially the networking.
“For me, I think that sounds like a very cool thing,” said Jollensten. “But in terms of our school, I’m excited to show other people how well our school can do. We are a very, very small school compared to some of these bigger schools; we’re little but mighty.”
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