Cal-Hi Sports Insider Blog

Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.

Schools With 100 Years Of Football

By Mark Tennis | Published October 9, 2020

Some of these schools may already have had a 100-year celebration, but here are the ones that we have with first football scores in our files that are from 1920 season.

Atascadero
The Greyhounds were at their best when Larry Welsh was coaching them between 1979 and 1996, including 14-0 seasons in 1982 and 1995.

Atascadero cheerleaders and players celebrate after a game in 2014. Photo: Cody Locker/AHSHilltopnews.com.


Canoga Park
There was a fun tweet just this week celebrating the Hunters’ 100 years. We have them at 10-1-1 in 1968 and 11-0-1 in 1981. They won the CIF L.A. City Section D2 title last season, then lost to South (Torrance) in SoCal D6AA regionals.

Chowchilla
The school was known as the Redskins until just a few years ago. Their first winning season we have was 7-1-1 in 1926.

Corning
The Cardinals were State Team of the Year for their division in 1988. They also were unbeaten three years earlier.

Grossmont (La Mesa)
We have the team getting to 7-1 in 1925 with an unbeaten season in 1927 (8-0-3). The Foothillers also were 9-0 in back-to-back seasons (1933, 1934).

Huntington Park
We don’t see that Canoga Park and Huntington Park are scheduled to play in upcoming 2021 winter season, but that’s a game that should be played. The Spartans won an L.A. City Section title in 2017, then lost to Vincent Memorial of Calexico in CIF D6-A SoCal regional final.

Patterson
This school has really grown in the last 10 to 15 years. The school community was rocked just a few weeks ago when two senior girls, Kaya Durazo and Ayana Guardado, were killed in a car accident in Tracy along with former Edison of Stockton standout Trey Breckenridge and former McNair player Donald Edwards.

Roseville
Alma mater of New England Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi and many others had its 100-year anniversary during 2019-20 school year. We don’t have any scores for the Tigers for 1919, but have them from 1920.

Sonora
The Wildcats are known for their unique and beautiful Dunlavy Stadium. They have trended toward being a smaller school in recent years due to declining enrollments.

Note: We have just one score well before 1920 for Willows, but that’s the only one and it could be a mistake. The Honkers don’t show up in the files more consistently until 1920 and were 9-0-1 by 1922.

Eight teams for College FB Playoffs?

By Special To CalHiSports.com | Published October 9, 2020

Pacific-12 commissioner Larry Scott, who had high hopes, had his proposal of expanding this year’s College Football Playoff field from four teams to eight teams turned down recently by the CFP management committee, according to ESPN.

While the CFP format is widely known to be reviewed annually by commissioners, it was revealed, for the first time, that a Power 5 commissioner rose up consideration for an eight-team format. It can also be said that this consideration of his was due to the impact of COVID-19 on the season as Scott felt it was important to ponder over expanding the playoff that will potentially have more teams and some automatic qualifiers. This could also potentially increase the odds on casino online for the college football seasons.

Speaking to ESPN, CFP executive director Bill Hancock said: “They decided that doing that now would be such a significant change, and come with so many challenges, especially given the timing with the season already underway, that they concluded that the best outcome would be to make no changes in the format. They will continue to discuss the future, which is just good, responsible business practice, although I must say that dealing with COVID has become everyone’s focus now.”

In its six years of history, the CFP has always maintained a four-team format. And if the format was to undergo a change, CFP will have to be backed by 10 FBS commissioners, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick and also the CFP board of managers, which includes 11 university presidents and chancellors. With this large amount of support needed, there is bound to be a conflict of interest between them.

After rejecting the proposal of expanding the CFP, the commissioners confirmed that the procedure to determine the four teams to be involved in the playoff will stay the same despite the Coronavirus pandemic.

Hancock continued: “They trust the judgment of the 13 experts on the committee to make the best decisions, understanding how much more difficult 2020 will be.”

Stanford head coach David Shaw, on the other hand, believes that it’s only a matter of time before the CFP finally undergo its expansion.

Speaking to the reporters, Shaw said: “Whether it’s six or eight, at some point in time it’s going to happen. We all know it; we all believe it. We’re just going to do it very, very slowly and methodically, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

The CFP is currently running in its seventh campaign out of the 12-year contract.

Since the creation of CFP in 2014, the Pac-12 only had Oregon and Washington take part in the tournament, with no national titles but a 1-2 record to show for. The Pac-12 has the lowest number of teams to take part in the CFP of the Power 5 conferences with the SEC in the lead with seven teams. That is immediately followed by ACC, which had six teams to participate. While Big Ten and Big 12 have had four teams each and it is well within the expectations of blackjack en ligne that placed impressive odds on them.

THe ACC, SEC and Big 12 have started their college football campaigns while the Big Ten and Pac-12 will begin in October and November respectively having formerly considered not playing due to the concerns brought about by COVID-19.

Giannis Antetokounmpo MVP

By Special To CalHiSports.com | Published September 25, 2020

The 25-year-old power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, was named the 2019/20 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player as announced last weekend.

Giannis became the 12th prolific player to win the NBA award in consecutive campaigns; this is also Antetokounmpo’s second straight KIA Most Valuable Player Award in his basketball career.

The 25-year-old, who is famously known as the Greek Freak, also became the first player from Europe to be selected as the NBA MVP for more than one season. On the list for the NBA MVP, the Greek International joins LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players to win the NBA MVP awards more than once at the age of 25.

The Nigerian-Greek also earned the award for the 2019/20 KIA NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He thus joins Hakeem Olajuwon – who did it in the 1993-94 campaign – and Michael Jordan (1987/88) as the only players to be named as the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player and Kia NBA Defensive Player of the year award in the same campaign.

The NBA Defensive Player of the Year award has been around since its arrival during the 1982/83 seasons and ever since online gambling usa offered odds regarding the potential player to win it.

Antetokounmpo claimed 85 out of 101 first-place votes and earned 962 total points from the global panel of 100 broadcasters and sportswriters and also his fan vote from the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award.

Coming second place to the Greek Freak is Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, who received 16 first-place votes and earned 753 points. While the Houston Rockets’ James Harden finished in third place with 367 points, fourth place was occupied by Dallas Mavericks’ guard Luka Doncic with 200 points, and Los Angeles Clippers’ forward Kawhi Leonard claimed the fifth place spot with 168 points.

This voting was said to have been conducted solely based on the regular season games played through March 11 as the players received 10 points for each first-place vote, 7 points for a second-place vote, five points for each third-place vote, three points for each fourth-place vote, while each fifth-place vote was worth one point.’

Games that were played from July 30 to August 14 were part of the campaign restart, but didn’t count for the voting for Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award or any other of the league’s end-of-season awards, which site de jeu en ligne offered interesting odds on.

Antetokounmpo ranked third in the NBA for the scoring average and rebounding average in games played through March as he was able to average 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.04 steals, and 1.02 blocks in 30.9 minutes in the 57 games he appeared. For shots from the field, he recorded 54.7 percent and also sank 83 three-pointers, which is registered to be 31 more than he scored in any of his past six campaigns.

The Greek Freak won the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for November, December, and January and was also the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week four times.

“Going into the next year I want to be a better jump-shooter. Every year, I want to be a better jump-shooter,” Antetokounmpo said via ESPN. “I want to be able to help my teammates better, know where they are at any time when I’m on the court. I want to be able to get lower, be able to guard, 1 through 5, but even better. There are so many other things that I want to do better, and I’ve done it every single year and I’m going to do it again.”

Golf: California major champions

By Mark Tennis | Published September 20, 2020

Congrats to Clovis East of Clovis grad Bryson DeChambeau for winning the 2020 U.S. Open golf championship. Bryson is the first-ever major golf winner from a CIF Central Section school. We have the all-time list of winners for the four major golf championships listed below.

DeChambeau was an NCAA champion at SMU (above) and has been a USGA amateur champion as well. Photo: Twitter.com.


US Open Champions
(Event began in 1895)

2008 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2002 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2000 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
1995 – Corey Pavin (Oxnard)
1987 – Scott Simpson (Madison, San Diego)
1973 – Johnny Miller (Lincoln, San Francisco)
1966 – Billy Casper (Chula Vista)
1964 – Ken Venturi (Lincoln, San Francisco)
1961 – Gene Littler (La Jolla)
1959 – Billy Casper (Chula Vista)
1940 – Lawson Little (Galileo, San Francisco)

PGA Champions
(Event began in 1916)

2020 – Collin Morikawa (La Canada)
2007 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2006 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2005 – Phil Mickelson (University, San Diego)
2000 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
1999 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
1976 – Dave Stockton (Pacific, San Bernardino)
1970 – Dave Stockton (Pacific, San Bernardino)
1966 – Al Geiberger (McClatchy, Sacramento & Santa Barbara)
1959 – Bob Rosburg (Lincoln, San Francisco)

Masters Champions
(Event began in 1934)

2019 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2010 – Phil Mickelson (University, San Diego)
2006 – Phil Mickelson (University, San Diego)
2005 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2004 – Phil Mickelson (University, San Diego)
2002 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2001 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
1998 – Mark O’Meara (Mission Viejo)
1997 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
1982 – Craig Stadler (La Jolla)
1970 – Billy Casper (Chula Vista)
1969 – George Archer (San Mateo)

British Open Champions
(Event began in 1860)

2013 – Phil Mickelson (University, San Diego)
2006 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2005 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
2000 – Tiger Woods (Western, Anaheim)
1998 – Mark O’Meara (Mission Viejo)
1976 – Johnny Miller (Lincoln, San Francisco)
1964 – Tony Lema (St. Elizabeth, Oakland)

Boys BB: Major Showcase Schedules

By Ronnie Flores | Published September 2, 2020

The release of our 2020-21 Cal-Hi Sports boys basketball state rankings will be like no other season before because of COVID-19. The official start to the season is March 12, 2021, but fans are trying to figure out what tournaments will actually take place this upcoming season and our state’s coaches are trying to line up games. As a preview to how things could shake out and to help everyone with interest in high school hoops, here is a list of the major 2020-21 tournaments and classics involving California teams that figure to be ranked. Look for our preseason Cal-Hi Sports state rankings sometime in February 2021, as the basketball calendar has moved to the Spring for the 2020-21 school year. The CIF regional/state basketball championships are scheduled to take place June 18-19, 2021. 

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Top 5 Lakers of All-Time

By Special To CalHiSports.com | Published August 30, 2020

When it comes to sports excellence, there are few teams in the NBA that have seen more All Star talent than the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are unlike any other sports franchise, as they have maintained a certain level of excellence and a lineage that seems to pass on from one player to the next. All of these players were incredible in their own way, some because of their impressive work ethic, while others for their approach to the details. This list is highly debatable since it doesn’t have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West or LeBron James on it.

Wilt Chamberlain

Chamberlain was the single greatest force ever to play basketball. With his incredible 100-point game and 702 total assists, the Philadelphia native shined bright during his 5-year journey with the Lakers. By this time, Chamberlain wanted to win championships, even though his first year with the Lakers would say otherwise.

Still, even though the team landed three more wins than the previous year, it showed how much their defense improved. Then, in 1971, the Lakers won their first championship, set the record for consecutive wins (33), and Chamberlain earned multiple awards himself. He was so incredible in this sport that he became a popular sports betting player (you can bet on sports today at many online casino websites like Casumo).

Chamberlain gave the Lakers something other hall of fame counterparts didn’t – the legacy of the team. Since 1971, the L.A. Lakers have won multiple championships, and it all started with the excellence of Chamberlain’s astounding skills.

Elgin Baylor

Elgin Baylor is one of the most overlooked L.A. players, but he is one of the best overall in the sport – even today. With over 12 years with the then Minneapolis Lakers, he managed to become the all-time leader in points per game with 27.4, first in total rebounds, second in field goal attempts, third in free throws made and forth in total minutes played.

Thanks to Baylor and his average of 34.8 points per game, he single-handedly pulled the Lakers out of their slump and went from second to last in fan attendance to fourth. Although he would play eight NBA finals, he would lose all eight and be forced into retirement nine games into the season in which they finally took the title home.

His place in NBA history shouldn’t be overlooked, because not only did he break industry records, he also changed the sport for the better. He was also a role model for many black youths at the time for dominating a sport primarily occupied at the time by whites despite the racial tensions in the country.

Shaquille O’Neal

Was O’Neal a great basketball player? Yes. Is this a polarizing statement? Unfortunately, yes, even though he led his team to victory 60 percent of the time, he had a 27-point per game average and was in four NBA Finals (where the Lakers won three). He was M.V.P. for each of those finals, which included the one season with the 65 total wins.

In the 2000 playoffs, he logged 1,000 playoff minutes, which was only accomplished six times. O’Neal was also impressive when it came to rebounds. Besides Chamberlain, no Laker comes close to O’Neal’s numbers (like the 707 total points in the 2000 playoffs), which helped the team get their first playoff win since 1988.

Although his problems with Kobe Bryant led to his eventual departure, his accomplishments and achievements shouldn’t be ignored or forgotten because of a few missed free throws.

Kobe Bryant

You can’t have a Lakers’ list without mentioning Bryant. His surprise passing in early 2020 meant the world lost a loving father, husband, and an impressive athlete. This boy had talent, and like most child prodigies, he danced through the competition to break multiple Lakers’ and NBA records, including the leader in games played, points per game, and points scored in a season.

Numbers aside, the irrefutable mark he left on the game of basketball makes him one of the greatest. He, like many others on this list, changed the course of history for all NBA teams, and many found it difficult to compete with his sheer might and talent.

It was his consistency that separated him from the greats in the sports. Only four players — Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Kobe Bryant — have ever won championships without a dominant center. His grind to become one of the greatest basketball players will never be duplicated.

Magic Johnson

With a name like “Magic” Johnson, you know you’re in for a treat. Ervin made the mundane look majestic, made other great players hall of famers, and smashed records multiple times over. He played in nine NBA Finals and won five, but Johnson’s position on the Lakers was a bit of a fluke. It was all thanks to Gail Goodrich signing in New Orleans and a coin flip.

The 1980s were good for the Lakers as they won multiple games, including the 1980 season that saw Johnson winning 60 games. The 1980s championship was the first of Magic’s career and the first of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Magic Johnson was named Finals M.V.P. three times in eight years. He came out of retirement for one year in 1995 but retired again in 1996. Still, that 1979 – 1991 time span for the Lakers saw some of the most amazing plays in basketball history.

Boys BB: SoCal Top 20 Seen

By Ronnie Flores | Published August 25, 2020

This list is different than the statewide Top 25s we recently published, as it only includes the greater Los Angeles metro region. Baron Davis, the former NBA All-Star guard and 1997 Mr. Basketball at Santa Monica Crossroads, inspired these lists on social media as he wanted to hear from various media pundits and other players about their Top 20 all-time players from L.A.

We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. All of our state class by class basketball player rankings, final team rankings for more than 40 years and all of our recently updated all-time state records (team & individual) are for Gold Club members only. You can now join for one-month rate of just $3.99. For subscription info, CLICK HERE.
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3 Reasons Sports Leagues Recruit International Players

By Special To CalHiSports.com | Published August 20, 2020

The National Hockey League (NHL) is, arguably, the most international sports federation in North America. Despite the word ‘national’ in its name, its players come from different regions all over the globe, ranging from Great Britain to the Czech Republic. THe NBA also has become more dependent on international players, including Luca Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

With the NHL acquiring different players from various global locations, it paved the way for other sports associations to do the same. Here are three reasons sports leagues recruit international players:

Different Countries With Different Talents

As per Betway, Canadians are, still, the backbone of the NHL despite the influx of international players in over 50 years. Still, sports talents aren’t only in that country.

For instance, 295 players hailed from Canada in the 2019/20 NHL season out of the 690 participants present. Moreover, 24 out of the 31 NHL teams come from the USA and players from there are the second-largest NHL group.

During the opening night of NHL’s 2019/20 season, 472 players or 68.4% of the total participants came from either Canada or the USA. Hence, 31.6% of other NHL players hailed from other regions, especially from cities and towns in Europe.

Other sports organizations took notice of the presence of international players in a sport famous in Canada. Some associations followed suit as sports in other areas, particularly in the USA, gather different talents from other global locations.

For example, many people draw attention to the National Basketball Association (NBA) because of its many American players. But, several teams hire various basketball talents from around the world. Pau Gasol, a player for the Portland Trail Blazers, hailed from Spain. Although NBA superstar Kyrie Irving, who plays for the Brooklyn Nets, was born in Australia, he lived in the USA after he was two years of age. Dirk Nowitzki of Germany and Nikola Jokic of Serbia are two other strong examples.

Perhaps, the idea of gathering different talents from around the globe stems from the fact that each individual has unique skills. These distinct abilities may help teams win.

Sports Change Over Time

New guidelines enter rulebooks or innovative ordinances surface to help teams gather new talents from different locations. The NHL is no exception to that, as this sports league changed and grew through generations.

Note that the NHL has a higher proportion of international players than the NBA, National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and other major American sports leagues. You can compare the number of players available by checking out online player statistics or playing popular sports video games.

The NHL has 31.6% international in its player base. Also, the MLB isn’t far behind as 245 of its 882 players, or 27.8%, come from countries outside Canada and the USA.

With these figures, you may see that sports leagues recruit international players to cater to certain changes. For instance, ice hockey, in particular, requires a rink and skates. Some countries don’t have the ideal training conditions to practice the sport.

Thus, sports associations may scout talents to fill in these gaps. A skillful individual might be good at playing roller hockey, and a representative from the NHL saw that person’s talents. But, the hometown of the roller hockey player doesn’t have a skating rink to practice ice hockey.

In that example, the representative may coerce the individual to play for the NHL. The player already may seem to have the skill to play ice hockey, but lacks the backing and training to get into the league. So, the two parties can devise and implement a plan for the player to get into a league-certified team based on certain international guidelines presented by the NHL.

Fill In Missing Roles

People age, and sports players are no different. Many participants retire over time because of various reasons, ranging from achieving satisfaction to old age.

But, if these individuals decide to quit the league, it means teams would lack vital roles in their rosters. As a result, representatives would once again be on the lookout for star players who could fill in these roles.

Looking around the neighborhood might not suffice when searching for rising stars in various sports. So, teams tend to look at other countries instead.

Recruiting international players has been a tradition for many sports associations throughout the years. The NBA, Major League Soccer (MLS), and NFL continue to recruit different players hailing from various countries around the globe to fill in missing spots.

For example, some players throughout the NHL’s history, including Jaromir Jagr (Czech Republic) and Teemu Selanne (Finland), got into the league to help teams grow and win games. In particular, Jagr helped Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup championships back in 1991 and 1992.

Conclusion

The gathering and development of top international players serve to stimulate growth in different sports organizations. THe NHL, a leader in recruiting foreign players, as seen by various communities, might be a role model for other sports organizations to follow suit in seeking talents from other countries. In turn, sports leagues can break regional barriers, which might be a stepping stone for world peace.

The Purpose And Advantage of Using Record Boards

By Special To CalHiSports.com | Published August 12, 2020


Are you thinking of an easy way to present your team’s information every time you have an event? If you are, please read on to find out how we can help you with it. We know how much you struggle with writing and preparing for the games as well as monitoring the duties of your team members. Yes, it is a challenge, but be assured that there is a solution to it.

Here, you will get to know more about using a record board. Colleges or universities use it for their sports events and even in national or international sports competitions. It may come in different sizes and designs. It makes your life easier by providing different layouts for you to use in any event.

You might see it placed in many sports events. Yet, it is good to know what it is specifically used for, in case you plan on using it yourself. Aside from the information that you can input on it, there is still more that you need to discover about this topic. Read below to know more.

What Is The Purpose Of Using A Record Board?

1. To List Important Information
It has many uses, and one of them is to list names, event names, dates, and other essential information. You can write it down on a record board or print it in an open space. It would help you and other people monitor the roles of the team members. You can also record the scores there.

2. To Set Categories
In a competition, different kinds of sports need record boards. Click here to get a list of sports. You can have it personalized by including the sporting event’s name as its heading. Common sports this is used for include basketball, football, track and field, or swimming. By doing this, you will never have difficulty browsing the records from different sports.

3. To Organize Information
Nothing is better than seeing well-organized information in the middle of a sports competition. For all competitors, coaches, and visitors, it is a good thing to have a record board around the place. If you are in the swimming pool area or the gym, you can provide one there for all to see. It gives fresh updates to people.

4. To Inform People
Since you are after gathering essential information for real-time guidance, it becomes easier for everyone to read results. Also, it helps inform people regarding the progress or achievement of teams or individuals. These record boards help in analyzing the data, without the need to ask anyone about it.

5. To Show A Summary Of Current & Past Results
It would not be difficult to review previous sports competitions because of it. There is so much that you can get from it, especially on the groups participating and the different categories they belong to in the competition. It serves as a reminder to people what happened. It can even display records of competitions from long years before.

Advantages Of Using A Record Board

• It can be customized.
There are so many things that you can do to your record board, such as working on the design, layout, colors, and texts. You can include anything that you find helpful for your record board as long as it does not become too wordy. The size also varies depending on your needs. You can communicate all of this to the graphics team you work with.

• It is easier to find information.
If you are in a hurry to read newspapers or school papers to know the latest updates, you can refer to this one. It will guide you about what you missed in the previous competition. You can see the ranking of the competitors, and even their scores, too. It is accessible to anyone who needs it. Visit this link to know its use.

• People find it pleasing to look at in the event’s place.
Another good thing with a record board is that it may come in different colors, images, texts, and layouts. It becomes eye-catchy for people who see it. Most teams use their logos to represent their team. It adds to the creativity and uniqueness of the board.

• It can be updated anytime.
It can permanently be printed or easily replaced. This is why it is convenient to use because you can update the information anytime you like. So, if you have a recent sports competition, you can input data right away.

A record board must be utilized properly to maximize its use. It’s very convenient whether it is to be used for fitness or competitions. Moreover, its goal is to provide detailed and organized information. It serves as a guide and reminder to everybody. Presenting data has never been better indeed.

CIF Participation Still On The Rise

By Special To CalHiSports.com | Published August 3, 2020

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. – Education-based athletics participation continues to increase in California and is at an all-time high for the eighth consecutive year according to the 2019-20 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Sports Participation Survey, which was released on Monday (Aug. 3). Up by 0.16% since the previous 2018-19 survey, 815,313 student-athletes are competing in education-based athletic programs in California.

“We are encouraged to see steady growth in education-based athletics,” states CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti. “The CIF looks forward to continuing this trend and will remain focused on its goals of expanding participation opportunities for girls as well as providing additional opportunities for all students at our member schools.”

Along with the overall participation increase in education-based athletics, there were a few sports that saw noticeable increases across both genders. Of the top 10 sports, volleyball saw the largest percentage increase, a combined 2.68% or 1,830 more participants, followed by track and field with a 2.03% or 2,050 more participants, and swimming and diving with a 1.07% increase or 552 more participants.

Football (11-player) continues to lead the top 10 boys’ sports with 89,756 participants which decreased by 1.69% or 1,549 participants. Track and field (57,302) is the second most popular sport, which increased by 3.55%, followed by soccer (55,036), basketball (47,675), and baseball (45,132) which increased by 1.77%. Additionally, boys’ volleyball participation increased by 5.99%, as well as boys’ lacrosse, which increased by 4.71%.

For girls, soccer captured the top spot for the fifth consecutive year with 48,647 participants. Volleyball came in second (46,495), which increased participation by 1.08%, followed by track and field with 45,318 participants. Basketball (34,368) and softball (32,502) rounded out the top five girls’ sports. Girls’ lacrosse saw a notable 9.11% increase (10,737), taking over the 10th most popular sport for girls, while girls’ wrestling continues to grow with 6,446 participants for a 7.18% increase.

The CIF’s 1,606-member schools were asked to participate in the survey as part of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) nationwide survey that measures the number of students competing in sports in the country.

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