Spring sports begin
While all of the CIF
San Diego Section’s spring sports began action in February, two of the Southeastern Conference’s seven sports, boys team tennis and boys and girls track and field, which are literally springing into action this week.
Those two sports join three others that sprang into action last week, boys and girls swimming, boys golf and the newest Southeastern Conference sport, boys volleyball.
Boys volleyball – which has been a CIF SDS sport since 1994 – began its inaugural Imperial Valley League season last week.
In the two IVL matches last week, the Brawley High Wildcats (1-1, 1-0 IVL) traveled to Vincent Memorial Catholic High (1-2, 1-1 IVL) in Calexico and claimed their first victory in school history, in three sets to one.
“We had some teams in the past but this is the first year it’s a league sport and we will have enough matches to go to the CIF playoffs,” Brawley Athletic Director Billy Brewer said.
Vincent Memorial began playing boys volleyball in 2009, while the cross-town Calexico Mission School Roadrunners began their program in 2010. Both teams played in the Citrus League until moving to the IVL this season.
“It’s much better, more convenient and it’s nice to be able to play in the IVL, which we normally don’t get to do,” Vincent Memorial Athletic Director Karla Soto said. “We played last season after coming back from COVID and the boys are excited to play teams in the Valley.”
Vincent has also joined the IVL for the boys golf season, which began on February 28, and enters its second week of its three dual-match format on Mondays and Wednesdays, with teams teeing off at 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 7, for example, Vincent Memorial will play at Palo Verde High, the Southwest High Eagles will play Brawley, and the Holtville Vikings take on host Central High Spartans. The Imperial High Tigers have a bye.
The golf teams compete at Barbara Worth Country Club, which serves as home course to many IVL teams, while the Del Rio Country Club is home to Brawley. Palo Verde hosts home matches at Blythe Municipal Golf Course.
IVL boys and girls swimming hit the waters on February 21 with Holtville and Calipatria taking on Central in a three-way meet at the City of El Centro’s Aquatic Center, which will host a number of IVL meets this spring.
The early dip allowed the IVL swim season to take two prolonged in-season breaks — this week for swimmers involved with activities at the California Mid-Winter Fair, and another in April for local spring break.
The remainder of the IVL schedule features dual meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays until the regular swim season ends on April 19.
Track and Field arrives this week in the form of three IVL dual-meets and the annual all day Desert Relay Invitational, happening this Saturday, March 11, at Central’s Ed Ralston Track.
In track and field, the IVL again welcomes the addition of Vincent Memorial to the Southeastern Conference track, as the Scots will compete, along with Holtville, against IVL foes.
The IVL dual meets will be contested on Thursday afternoons – one IVL school drawing a bye – with field events beginning at 3 p.m. and the running events at 4 p.m. This week in track and field: Brawley is at Central, Southwest travels to Calexico, and Palo Verde is at Imperial.
IVL boys team tennis begins their dual round-robin match season this week, with three matches being played on Mondays and Wednesdays, with the six teams – Brawley, Calexico, Central, Holtville, Southwest, and Vincent Memorial – ending their seasons on April 5.
Vincent – which won a CIF-SDS championship in 2015 and was runner-up in 1999 – again finds itself in a unique situation with no on-campus tennis courts but a perennially strong team.
“We play everyone twice as all teams do but we are designated home or away for IVL purposes and CIF seeding,” Soto said. “If it comes to hosting a CIF team playoff match, we choose a school locally to be our home court.”
While the IVL is in league mode with most spring sports, two – baseball and softball – are journeying through long non-league schedules and will not see Southeastern Conference action until the last day of March.