West Catholic Athletic League

The West Catholic Athletic League or WCAL is a highly competitive high school athletic conference in the Central Coast Section of the California Interscholastic Federation. The boys division is made up of seven Catholic schools and one nondenominational Christian school in the Western and Southern portions of the San Francisco Bay Area. The girls division includes all of the co-ed schools in the WCAL, along with Presentation High School (all-female school). Notre Dame-Belmont (all-female school), Sacred Heart Preparatory-Atherton, and the Menlo School compete in select WCAL sports (water polo and lacrosse), but mainly partake in the West Bay Athletic League.

High schools

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Institution Location Colors Established Enrollment Gender Team name Joined
Archbishop Mitty High School San Jose    1964 1,750 Coed Monarchs n/a
Archbishop Riordan High School San Francisco    1949 820 Coed Crusaders 1967
Bellarmine College Preparatory San Jose    1851 1,625 Male Bells n/a
Presentation High School San Jose    1962 800 Female Panthers n/a
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory San Francisco     1987 1,300 Coed Fightin' Irish 1967[1]
Saint Francis High School Mountain View     1955 1,750 Coed Lancers n/a
St. Ignatius College Preparatory San Francisco    1855 1,507 Coed Wildcats 1967[1]
Junípero Serra High School San Mateo    1944 1,000 Male Padres n/a
Valley Christian High School San Jose     1956 1,400 Coed Warriors 2003[2]

Rivalries

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  • Archbishop Mitty with Saint Francis
  • Archbishop Mitty with Bellarmine
  • Sacred Heart Cathedral with Archbishop Riordan (Football)
  • Saint Francis with Bellarmine (The Holy War)[3]
  • St. Ignatius with Sacred Heart Cathedral (see the Bruce-Mahoney Trophy).
  • Junipero Serra with Saint Ignatius (Basketball)
  • Junipero Serra with Saint Ignatius (Rowing - Kahle Cup)
  • Junipero Serra with Saint Francis (Football and Baseball)
  • Valley Christian with Archbishop Mitty
  • Archbishop Mitty with Riordan (Basketball)
  • St. Ignatius with Archbishop Riordan (Football - Gil Haskell Trophy)

Notable alumni

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Major League Baseball (MLB)

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National Basketball Association (NBA)

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National Football League (NFL)

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Olympic athletes

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  • Brandi Chastain, Olympic gold medalist and Women's World Cup champion soccer player, Archbishop Mitty High School
  • Polina Edmunds, figure skater, Archbishop Mitty High School
  • Ariel Hsing, Table Tennis, Valley Christian High School
  • Tom McBreen, U.S. Olympic swimming gold and bronze medal winner, Junipero Serra High School
  • Kevin McMahon, hammer throw, Bellarmine College Preparatory
  • Pablo Morales, Olympic gold and silver medalist of the 1984 and 1992 Summer Games, Pan Pacific gold and bronze medalist in '85, '87, and '89, World Champion in '86, and a silver in the Pan American Games of '83, Bellarmine College Preparatory
  • Shannon Rowbury, Track and Field, Olympic Profile: 2008: 7th in the 1500; 2012: 4th in the 1500; 2016: 4th in the 1500; Sacred Heart Cathedral
  • Kerri Walsh-Jennings, winner of three consecutive Olympic beach volleyball gold medals, Archbishop Mitty High School

References

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  1. ^ a b "WCAL's Roots Extend Back Eight Decades" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Valley Christian Warriors Home Page".
  3. ^ Mazeika |, Vytas (2019-11-09). "WCAL's Holy War: St. Francis overpowers Bellarmine in the trenches". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
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