Menifee high school athletes ready for CIF playoffs

Tyrese Mitchem heads toward a first-place finish in the 100 breaststroke in last week's league finals at the Drop Zone. Photo by Kristi Jo Aguirre

High school athletes from several Menifee high school teams are competing this week as the CIF Southern Section postseason gets underway.

One of the big success stories this spring is the performance of Paloma Valley and Heritage high schools in swimming, with both programs still relatively new. Paloma Valley won the boys and girls league team titles last week at the Drop Zone pool in Perris, and several Wildcat swimmers qualified for the CIF Division 4 prelims, which will be held Wednesday at the Riverside Aquatics Complex.

Paloma Valley boys swimming league champions at last week's meet included Nathan Hughes in the 200 freestyle; Ozzy Cordon in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly; Tyler Hill in the 50 freestyle; Brady Ayala in the 100 backstroke; and Tyrese Mitchem in the 100 breaststroke. In addition, The 200 medley relay team of Hughes, Mitchem, Cordon and Hill won the league championship, as well as the 200 freestyle relay team of Ethan Hamilton, Jacob Canales, Hughes and Hill.

League champions for the Paloma Valley girls swim team included Lorie Stuart in the 200 free and 500 free and Alexis Bryan in the 200 IM. In addition, the 200 medley relay team of Dawn Wolf, Sarah Freeman, Bryan and Stuart won the league championship, as well as the 200 freestyle relay team of Bryan, Jaden DeMartino, Freeman and Stuart.

Heritage swimmers also performed well all season and will send 17 swimmers to the Division 4 CIF prelims. The finals will be held on Friday, also at the Riverside Aquatics Complex.

The Paloma Valley baseball team will open the CIF Division playoffs at Katella at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday. The Wildcats enter the postseason with an 18-8 overall mark. Sophomore Wyatt Bush is hitting. 410 with 9 RBIs. Senior pitcher Brandon Reyes is 4-0 with a 1.05 ERA and sophomore Caleb Anderson is 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA.

In softball, Santa Rosa Academy plays host to Lutheran La Verne Thursday at 3:15 p.m. in a Division 7 game. The Rangers were undefeated in winning the South Eastern League championship and have an 11-3 overall record.

The Paloma Valley softball team will be at home against Rancho Cucamonga in a Division 3 softball game Thursday. Heritage will play at AB Miller Thursday in a Division 4 game after beating Hillcrest 8-6 in a wild card game on Tuesday.

The Heritage boys tennis team will be at home Wednesday at 3 p.m. against a wild-card winner in Division 5 action. The Paloma Valley boys golf team won its league title last Friday with a victory over Heritage, 214-241.

The Paloma Valley boys volleyball team was in action Tuesday night, playing host to Cypress in a Division 3 game. In Division 6, Santa Rosa Academy plays tonight at Arlington.

The Santa Rosa Academy softball team went undefeated in league play this season. Photo courtesy of Dan Torres