Students on Guard for Match

Valencia High School’s colorguard team will take up rifles and sabers Sunday to defend its spot as the top team in Southern California.

The team will compete for the last time this year at Ayala High School in Chino on Sunday for the Southern California Colorguard Championship title--which they won last year. The teens are ranked second in the state and recently placed 14th out of about 270 teams at the World Championships in Phoenix.

The 27 young women who make up the team plan to defeat their competition by tossing wooden guns high in the air and expertly spinning rubber-tipped swords. They are confident their program, which combines dance moves with skills including flag-spinning and tossing rifles, will keep them competitive.

“We want to end it with the gold,” said team co-captain Jennifer Helwich, 18, who is graduating after four years on the team. “We won first place last year, and we want to do it again this year.”

But this year, three more high schools have entered the World Class division and promise Valencia some tough competition, said colorguard director Phil Mortensen. In the past, the school’s only competition at the top level has been Indio High School in Palm Springs.

“We’re not kicking back now, because we know that nobody is resting on their laurels for this championship,” Mortensen said. “But we’ve got a fantastic program. They’re spinning everything and throwing it all over the place.”

Valencia’s team has been competing in the international colorguard circuit for about eight years and has won two Southern California championships. After its first win in 1994, several members graduated and the team had to rebuild its talent.

A full year of losing competitions has made the team’s recent successes even more exciting for the seniors.

“It was really bad for us because we weren’t winning anything,” Helwich said. “But we wanted to show them we could do awesome, and we did.” To ensure their team continues to do well, this year’s seniors plan to work with girls from Kraemer Junior High’s colorguard team, which feeds into Valencia.

“You come into this program in ninth grade and you’re just blown away,” said the team’s other co-captain, Jennifer Maertzweiler, 17, of Placentia. “We want them to work with us to get them more involved, more prepared.”

Team members are confident that Valencia will continue to rank high next year and keep the school’s name nationally known.

“People just think of us as the flag twirlers in front of the band,” said Jessica Bailey, 17. “But we give Valencia its name around the country.”

“They’re going to do great,” said Carey Strand, 18, of Yorba Linda, of next year’s team. “The girls on the team this year have seen what it takes to be the best.”