The annual Winter Rally was held Friday, February 12th. The excited student body met to cheer on West High sports teams, celebrate in their success, and witness the anticipated wrestling tournament between seniors and faculty. Hosting the event, Secretary of Spirit, Jimmy Takashima (11), began the rally with a welcome and by recognizing the Academic Decathlon team, which recently earned first place in the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon; the team will continue to compete at the state level. Additionally, the girls’ basketball team will be going to play in the CIF championship, and the wrestling team is now the Bay League Champions. The This week, Advanced Dance will be participating in a show along with other Torrance schools on February 17th and 18th, with tickets on sale in ASB. As a preview, the dance team gave a presentation of one of its creative dances. Following the dance team, the cheerleaders also performed one of their routines. They will be competing for nationals in Las Vegas next week.

Finally, the advertised wrestling competition took place between members of West High’s varsity wrestling team and faculty. Each pair had one minute to outscore their opponent. The matches were: Ali Nazari versus Mr. Kadono, Kyle Taketa versus Varsity Coach Notch, Slaemen Fazel versus Freshman Wrestling Coach Druten, Kyle Pivovaroff versus Mr. Foster, and Damien Watters versus Mr. Rollins. With an overwhelming senior wrestlers’ victory, the winners of the competitions were Ali Nazari, Kyle Taketa, Coach Druten, Kyle Pivovaroff, and Damien Watters. Each match was met with thunderous applause by students as each bout was filled with intense action as the competitors struggled to win. Based the amount of cheering by the student body, the rally was indeed successful in encouraging school spirit, and brought students together as a Warrior Family.