Victorious Vikes

On Jan. 15, in the gym during a wrestling match against Warren, Angel Baez, 12, goes for a pin against a Warren wrestler. “Before each match I try to get into my zone, so I can just focus on the match,” Angel Baez said.

Esther Rodriguez, Parents & Teachers Section Editor
January 28, 2015

On Jan. 15, in the gym, the varsity wrestling team beat rival school, Warren High School, with a score of 35-25, winning eight out of 14 matches.

The Vikings started out strong winning the first three matches;, however, they had some trouble in the next couples of matches.

Senior Randy Chavez, a wrestler on the junior varsity team, felt the team could have wrestled harder, but were distracted by the league title weighing on this match. The Vikes still pulled through this rough patch.

“Although we wrestled and fought hard against Warren, I believe that we didn’t perform at our fullest potentials,” Chavez said. “It was more of a mental battle for us rather than a physical one.”

Wrestlers that stood out in this match were Mark Lopez, Dylan Moreno, and Angel Baez. Cheers could be heard from both sides of the gym as spectators rooted for their school. The team only lost six matches against Warren. Senior and former wrestler Alejandro Alvarez felt the match was fought passionately against their rivals.

“I thought it was a really intense dual all the way down to the last match especially against our rival Warren,” Alvarez said.

Although the boys had a tough time in a couple matches, they did not let tis get them down and showed that they still had fight left in them. Senior Edwin Jauregi felt the boys never let the score affect their mood.

“Even though the boys had some trouble, they pushed through,” Jauregi said. “They stayed humble after every win and focused after every loss.”

Before the last match, the Vikings led with a score of 25-18 and won the last match, earning 1- points as a team and holding Downey’s reining name over Warren. The boys’ next match is against Paramount High School on Jan. 25, at 5 p.m., at Paramount.

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About the Contributors

Esther Rodriguez, Parents & Teachers Section Editor

Entering her second year as a writer for The Downey Legend, senior Esther Rodriguez has high hopes. As a sophomore, she heard about joining Newspaper during the morning announcements and her English teacher, Mr. Kraus, encouraged her to fill out an application and display her knack for writing. This inspired her to apply and see if she could make it, which she did. Rodriguez joined in hopes of improving her writing skills, becoming less shy, and learning to write in more detail. To her, the best part about being on the newspaper staff is finding out about interesting, random things going on around the school. “There are things you would not know just coming to school, but being in Newspaper you learn things that aren’t common knowledge,” Rodriguez said. “We are the eyes and ears of the school.”

In her down time, Rodriguez enjoys reading young adult literature, writing fictional stories, and spending quality time with her cell phone on websites like YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter. Besides being in Newspaper at school, she is also a new tutor at Downey High’s Writing Center. Writing as much as possible is important to her because she dreams of one day being an author. Along with chasing her aspirations of writing for a living, after she finishes high school, Rodriguez also looks forward to attending a university such as UCLA, San Diego State, or UC San Diego and obtaining a degree in English. Next summer, she will also be going on a missionary trip with church to Japan. Although her head is full of thoughts about the surreal future, for now Rodriguez is focusing on her schoolwork and activities and soaking up her last year as a high schooler.

Emily Herrera, Sports Section Editor

Senior Emily Herrera went from photojournalism to The Downey Legend to give herself a challenge as a photographer. “When I graduate I want to become a sports photographer,” Herrera said. “I think Newspaper will give me practice in my photographic skills.” As a photographer Herrera plans on building her portfolio. To Herrera, photography is not just taking pictures, it is a passion that lets her go behind a lens and capture an incredible image.
When Herrera does not have a camera in her hands, she likes to play soccer. Playing soccer gives her an adrenaline rush that has helped her release stress. During the summer she went to The Monster tour held by Rihanna and Eminem. “Watching Rihanna play live in person was the highlight of my summer,” Herrera said, “my favorite song was “All of the Lights”.” She loves watching sports on TV and hanging out with her friends during her spare time. In the future Herrera sees herself attending UC Santa Barbara or USC and majoring in photojournalism. She has a long path ahead of her with many challenges on the way, but she is going to stay positive and conquer her dreams.