Badminton shuttles its way to CIF finals but comes up short of championship

By Gassia Ashikian
Staff Writer

The world’s fastest racket sport has increasingly captured the attention of Mira Costa students as it earns a respectable and competitive reputation.

The Mira Costa co-ed badminton team, which consists of 32 boys and girls, was first organized in 2006 and is coached by Dr. Rocky Wilson. For the first time in team history, after winning the Bay League title, the team reached the CIF finals on May 7 at Long Beach Polytechnic High School. The Mustangs lost to Diamond Bar High School, ending their run for the CIF title.

“Every year, the team has made it to the CIF semifinals, but we usually wind up in third place and don’t advance,” Wilson said. “Everyone was working especially hard this year to get to finals.”

In the Mustangs’ regular season, they maintained a record of 9-1. The Mustangs also won all of their singles and doubles tournament matches at the semifinals, allowing them to place high enough to advance on to the finals. In the finals, the Mustangs won their first two rounds of competition. In the first, against Lakewood, Costa won, 18-3. In the second, Costa defeated San Marino, 13-8.

“The Lakewood game wasn’t as difficult as we were expecting,” Wilson said. “During the San Marino tournament, the boys doubles and singles games really stepped it up when they won all their matches. That helped us take the lead.”

The Mustangs lost, 12-9, in the third round of the finals on May 7 to Diamond Bar High School.

“Diamond Bar has never before had so many club players in their ranks,” senior Yuan Wang said. “They also had the advantage of being familiar with the courts at Long Beach Poly.”

Despite the loss, Costa started out dominating the game. Because there are not many high schools that have a badminton team, some League games require significant commutes.

Because of a large amount of seniors currently on the team, several underclassmen will have to advance their playing techniques to compensate for the loss of the seniors. The team will lose seniors Yuan Wang, Erin Yokote, Zach Friedman and Chad Naramore.

“I believe a lot of our players will step up to the plate and continue to win,” Wilson said. “Our hope for next year’s season is to beat Diamond Bar and maintain the great record that we have.”