Downey swimming teams continue excellence in the pool
Downey boys and girls swimming teams practice at Downey High School on Tuesday. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
DOWNEY – A consistency of excellence and winning has been the earmark for both the boys and girls swim teams at Downey High School for years.
This year is no exception, as both teams will be aiming for undefeated league titles.
The boys, under the guidance of Alyssa Villa are closing in on their 15th consecutive undefeated league title and the girls, under Sal Castro, will be going for their 10th.
Castro, who has been coaching for 32 years, 26 at Downey, said “It’s really a good feeling and I enjoy winning. I tell them winning is fun but it’s about what the sport is going to give you later in life - you know organization, time management, dedication and stuff like that.”
Villa, who is in her second year as the boys coach, is also the wife of boys and girls water polo coach Uriel Villa. They have a new baby, Valor, who is five months old.
“I have been with this program since 2013 under legendary coach D’s (Shaun Delhousay) leadership,” Alyssa Villa said. “He built the program and set the bar for continued success. I’m honored that he chose to pass it on to me. I hope to continue that success and honor his legacy. Most of our boys play water polo and are very talented in both sports.”
Downey Girls
With the regular season nearing a close before league finals and then CIF, the Vikings are currently 7-0.
From 2017 until 2020 before COVID hit, the Vikings went undefeated with 36 consecutive wins. In the 2017 season, the Vikings won the CIF Division 4 Championship. They won all of the meets, which is unheard of in swimming.
This season, with the Vikings in CIF Division 2, is led by captains Kamila Best and Alia De La Mora. De La Mora was the only CIF qualifier last year and she competed in the 100 Butterfly.
The Vikings have 12 seniors and Castro said of his veterans, “I like seeing that they are talking to the newcomers to give them knowledge and teaching them the ropes,” Castro said. “I appreciate that.”
Top performers are:
Seniors: Madeline Farias: League champion (50 free and 100 free). Currently undefeated this season.
Alia De La Mora: League champion (200IM and 100 Fly). 2025 CIF qualifier.
“Alia is great,” Castro said. “I have her in the classroom too and her GPA is doing well.”
Rylie Patterson: League champion (500 free and 100 Breast).
Kamila Best: 100 Back. (only 1 loss this season).
Juniors: Marissa Fierro, Freestyle specialist
Nickole Burgueno, Freestyle specialist
Newcomers that are making an impact with points are freshman Valentina Chavez, Xochitl Lopez, Jayleen Saavedra, and Zaira Tovar.
Getting ready for league finals
“I told the girls right now this is the key week in terms of where we want to be just to start tapering down,” said Castro, of the upcoming league finals. “With about 10 to 12 days before your big event you start backing off on the yardage and intensity. That’s coming up pretty soon so this is our last opportunity to build a base to have something to taper off.”
Assisting Castro is Sage Bertsch, who is also the assistant boys and girls coach under head coach Uriel Villa.
Downey girls swim has dominated the league for the last nine years, winning almost all events at the league finals. “Not only do they work hard in the pool, but 35% of the swimmers have a 4.0 or higher GPA.” added Castro.
Downey Girls Varsity Roster
Seniors - Zoey Barco, Kamila Best, Alia De La Mora, Madeline Farias, Izabella Garcia, Samantha Huerto, Charlotte Isai, Rylie Patterson, Liliana Perez and Honey Perez-Carlon. Juniors – Viana Aguilar, Nickole Burgueno, Marissa Fierro and Kathryn Martinez. Sophomore – Chelsea Tercero. Freshmen – Valentina Chavez, Xochitl Lopez, Jayleen Saavedra, Zaira Tovar and Nicole Velasquez.
Coach Sal Castro Bio
He grew up swimming and swam for the Downey Dolphins in the late 70s under coach Dave Salo, who ended up being a premiere coach. He coached USC, an Olympic Coach, and currently is at Arizona St. University.
Castro broke a national record when he was 10 in the 100 meter butterfly. He won CIF in the 200 free and 100 fly and broke a CIF record in the 100 fly in his senior year at St. John Bosco. Castro swam in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Trials and swam for the University of Utah for one year and was WAC Champion in the 100 Fly and then swam at UNLV for three years.
He has three kids The oldest (Cameron) swam at UNLV and was WAC Conference Champion in the Mile. He also has a daughter (Izzy) and a younger son (Carlos) who also swimmers. His wife of 20 years is Dr. Carola Castro, who is the Assistant Superintendent of ABC Unified.
He has been teaching for 31 years and has been a Realtor for 18 years. He teaches in the Business Department with classes such as Personal Finance, Real Estate Principles, and Ethnic Studies.
“My dad (Carlos) reminds me that I need to give back to the sport that gave me so much,” concludes Sal Castro.
What they said:
Alia De La Mora: “It’s so exciting. We win league every year and is exciting being a part of this program. It feels like a family. I genuinely love it. I come from the City of Commerce because everybody swims over there. Since I was a little kid I was in the pool.
Once I came to high school in my freshman year, coach Castro just put me at the Butterfly (stroke).
Riley Patterson: “These next couple weeks I’m really hoping to bond more as much as I can, because I will not be here next year. A lot of people are sad, but I think I’ve done really good these past four years (on varsity). I’ve put in the work and this is a chapter of my life that is coming to a good end.”
Madeline Farias: “It’s sad, but it’s fun coming to the end of my career. Getting to see the new girls coming in and mentoring the younger girls is fun. The last stretch is like a race and you feel it and you just kind of have to get there and finish off strong.”
Downey Boys
Downey has been Gateway League champs every year since 2010. The boys have won almost every event during league dual meets and at league finals.
The Vikings are 7-0 with 3 meets left.
Coaching the boys in her second-year is Alyssa Villa, who has been in the program for years with Delhousay as his assistant.
Assisting Villa is an extra assistant, Joaquin De Leon, who is also the boys and girls assistant polo coach and JV Swim coach.
Coach Alyssa Villa swam and played water polo at Montebello High School and then played club water polo at UC Santa Cruz, where her team was Sierra Pacific Division Champions. They finished runner up in the CWPA National Championships at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida in 2012.
Top Swimmers
“This year we are led by Nathan Martinez, Juan Frias, Melvin Carcamo and Leonardo Garcia,” coach Villa said.
Martinez is the Vikings top freestyler. He swims the 200 free and 100 free.
He swam the 200, 500, 4x50 and the 4x100 at CIF last year
Carcamo is their 200IM specialist and is a top 500 freestyler. He swam in the 500 free and the 4x100 relay in CIF last season.
Leonardo is one of their top backstroke and butterflyers, along with Frias as the top butterflyer
Newcomers making an impact: Arsenio Tagorda, Julian Garcia and Emiliano Gonzalez.
Delhousay started as the girls JV water polo coach in 2006 at DHS. In 2007 he took over the boys water polo and swim teams. Delhousay retired in 2024 and led the Vikings to 14 straight league titles in swimming.
“I tried to bring stability to a program that was in desperate need and attempted to rebuild it to what it once was in aquatics,” said Delhousay recently.
“It will be exciting to see how we finish this swim season and school year,” Alyssa Villa concluded. “Last year we had seven boys compete at CIF-SS D2 Finals.
Downey Boys Varsity Roster
Seniors – Jacob Chieng, Reagan De Buhr, Juan Frias, Damien Garcia, Leonardo Garcia and Nathan Martinez. Junior – Marcus Fierro. Sophomores - Ethan Aguirre, Melvin Carcamo, Julian Garcia and Emiliano Gonzalez.
What they said:
Uriel Villa, Boys asst. coach: “Our boys have just had consistent success. We’ve been pretty dominant in league and have had some swimmers qualify for CIF.
We did lose a lot of our seniors last year, but a lot of our stronger swimmers came back. We have a lot of returners for sure.”
Melvin Carcamo: “We’ve won a lot and we practice hard. My event is the 500 Free, 4x100 Free and 200 IM. Especially for water polo, distance swimming helps.
We’ve also been coached by (Uriel and Alyssa) in club. I started swimming at age five.
The competition is good and to be challenged and helps you keep your love for the sport.”
Juan Farias: “Swimming, as in the sport helps with your endurance for water polo.
During the last couple of weeks definitely a lot goes through your mind. I could of done better or did I do good enough. It’s good to leave high school knowing I had my highest achievement ever (CIF Water Polo Champion).
Last year I got a :58 in my 100 Fly, which was something I was very happy about.”
