San Diego Southwest High junior Jose Altamirano has been named to Parade magazine's All-America soccer team.
“It's really cool,” Altamirano said. “It wasn't something I was expecting, so when I found out I was really excited.”
Altamirano scored 12 goals last season as Southwest shared the South Bay League title with Castle Park. He was named the league's Player of the Year.
He plans to spend the summer working out with the U.S. Under-20 National team, which is tentatively scheduled to play in Ireland.
Altamirano and U-20 teammates recently played friendlies against reserve squads from English Premiership teams Bolton, Manchester United and Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
Altamirano, an All-San Diego Section pick, helped Southwest to a runner-up finish in Division III.
“Next year I want to win (the title),” Altamirano said. “It was great for us to make it there this year as a team, but next year we really want to go all the way.”
Altamirano, a forward, was the only local player among Parade's 38 selections.
Football bowls
San Diego Section football teams will have more opportunities to qualify for the State Championship Bowls after the CIF finalized expansion plans for December's games at The Home Depot Center in Carson.
Moving from three divisions to five – four based on enrollment and one pitting the best team in Southern California against its Northern California counterpart – gives San Diego two additional chances. In the first two years of the bowl games, Oceanside High was the only local team to qualify. The Pirates won the Division II game last year, defeating Novato 28-14.
The California Interscholastic Federation's new, two-day format has the Small School Division (enrollment of 500 and below) scheduled to play at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 19. That will be followed by Division I (2,400-above) at 8 p.m.
The Dec. 20 schedule has Division III (1,100-below) at noon, Division II (1,101-2,399) at 4 p.m. and the Open Division at 8 p.m.
Teams will be selected by the CIF's 10 section commissioners. Only section champions are eligible, with one wrinkle. If the North or South cannot produce a Small School champion, commissioners can consider a Division III team.
The San Diego Section's five playoff divisions do not line up directly with the state's four divisions. The local section has 24 schools at an enrollment of 1,100 and below, making them eligible for the Small School game. There are 32 schools in the Division II category and 31 in Division I.
Softball all-stars
Participants are being sought for the annual High School Senior All-Star Game to be played at 4 p.m. May 29 at Southwestern College. High school softball players from Division I and Division IV programs will oppose players from Division II and Division III teams. Interested seniors should contact Southwestern softball coach Bob Aguilar at (619) 948-9936.
The next step
Southwestern College pitchers Dan Stenavich (Serra High) and Jorge Dryjanski (Eastlake High) will continue their baseball careers at Cal State San Bernardino. Stenavich and Dryjanski helped the Jaguars reach the state community college Final Four.
Other local high school athletes continuing their careers in college:
FOOTBALL: Torrey Pines' Carter Norfleet, Division III Occidental; Point Loma's Steven Padilla, Division II Seton Hill; Lincoln's Terrell Moore, Division II New Mexico Highlands; Helix's Chris Peterson, Division II Humboldt State; Castle Park's Ricardo Anzar, Division III Redlands.
BASKETBALL: San Diego's Abdi Farar, Division II Kentucky State.
BASEBALL: Mt. Carmel's Terrance Buchanan, Division II Cal State San Bernardino; San Diego's Joe Steinberger, Division III New Jersey City; La Jolla's Trent Jemmett, UC Riverside; Helix's Blaze McEntee, NAIA San Diego Christian.
SOFTBALL: University City's Kelly Flanagan, St. Louis; Helix's Alyssa Dronenburg, NAIA Cal State San Marcos; Patrick Henry's Ciera Ashman, NAIA Cal State San Marcos.
BOYS GOLF: La Jolla Country Day's Sam Rogers, Division III Occidental.
GIRLS SWIMMING: La Jolla Country Day's Melanie Kaplan, Division III Wellesley College.
BOYS WATER POLO: La Jolla's Peter Sefton, Stanford.
Staff writers Steve Brand and Nicole Vargas and freelance writer Bill Dickens contributed to this report.
