THE SANTIAGO HIGH cheer team (GGUSD photo).

There’s a lot more to sports at the high school level these days than just football, basketball, baseball, etc.

Cheerleading – in this instance traditional competitive cheer – has equal status with the more established sports and the championships were held this past weekend at Martin Luther King High in Riverside.

Among the local schools in our West Orange County area, Marina was third in Division 4A, Santiago was second and Bolsa Grande third in Division 4 coed.

Overall, teams from Bolsa, Garden Grove, Santiago and Pacifica all finished in the top six in the division.

Character really counts

  At the recent meeting of the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education the 2024-2025 “Coaches and Athletes of Character” were recognized.
The athletes were:
• Bolsa Grande: Zusana Jardon Figueroa, water polo
• Garden Grove: Drue Anzai, basketball
• Hare: Brayden Allen, basketball, flag football
• La Quinta: Lesly Perez, soccer, track, volleyball
• Los Amigos: Alexander Pineda Gonzalez, cross country
• Pacifica: Tyler Lewis, football, track
• Rancho Alamitos: Christina Trinh, volleyball
• Santiago: America Hernandez, flag football, softball, soccer, volleyball
The coaches were:
• Bolsa Grande: Albert Vargas and Mayra Sarinana, water polo
• Garden Grove: Andrew Scimeca, basketball
• Hare: Jay Rivero, basketball, flag football
• La Quinta: Michelle Rose, girls volleyball
• Los Amigos: Andrew Rodriguez, cross country, track
• Pacifica: Kyle Murphy, football
• Rancho Alamitos: Karyn Allen, volleyball
• Santiago: Sam Galdamez, wrestling.