Submitted photo – The Del Norte boys at the Lou Bronson tournament last week.

By Ray Hamill — It’s been a good school year for Del Norte sports so far and that doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon.

This winter the Warriors are enjoying another strong season on the wrestling mats, which included an outstanding team performance at the Lou Bronson tournament at Liberty High School last week, while the Del Norte girls basketball team has been one of the surprises of the season so far, with one junior in particular leading the way.

And that means the Warriors feature heavily in our first Athletes and Team of the Week of 2023, which is sponsored by College of the Redwoods Athletics.

Our team of the week is the Warriors wrestlers, as the defending league champs continued their impressive start to the campaign.

The Del Norte boys placed third out of 68 teams at the Liberty High tournament, an outstanding performance for an H-DNL team at the two-day event, while a small Warriors girls team placed 17th out of 64 teams.

For good measure, the boys followed that performance with a dominating dual meet win in their league opener on Friday night.

Another Warrior athlete also features in our awards this week.

Lili Nunez has been leading the way all season on a girls basketball team that has stormed out of the gates this winter and opened the Big 5 with a pivotal victory over a quality McKinleyville team on Tuesday.

Nunez is a standout multi-sport athlete, much like our boys athlete of the week, Ferndale’s Jack Westfall.

The athletic Westfall scored 32 points to lead the Wildcats to a Little 4 victory over Hoopa in boys basketball on Friday night and has been playing at a high level all season.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK 

Lili Nunez

Del Norte Basketball, Junior

Coming into the season, Nunez was described as the best player in league by her head coach Justin Clifton, and so far she’s done little to contradict that.

The junior guard has played a key role in helping the Warriors to a 12-3 record, including seven wins in their last eight games.

Nunez and the Del Norte girls will play another massive game on Tuesday, when they host league favorite Eureka in Crescent City.

Submitted photo – Jack Westfall, center, is enjoying another outstanding season with the Wildcats.

Jack Westfall

Ferndale Basketball, Senior

The ever-consistent Westfall had another huge performance on Friday night, scoring 32 points against the Warriors.

After a standout fall on the football field, the multi-sport star has carried that momentum into the basketball season and is playing a pivotal role on a much-improved Ferndale team.

For more on the senior’s  big week, see Westfall leads the way as Cats top the Warriors in L4 showdown …

Submitted photo – The Del Norte girls had a strong showing at last week’s Liberty High tournament, along with the Del Norte boys.

TEAM OF THE WEEK 

Del Norte Wrestling

The Del Norte boys placed a very impressive third overall out of 68 teams at the two-day Liberty High tournament, with nine of their 11 wrestlers reaching at least the quarterfinals and eight of them placing.

It was the program;’s best-ever showing at the prestigious two-day tournament.

And they followed that with a dominating dual meet win over McKinleyville on Friday night, as they look to defend their boys dual meet league crown.

The DN girls also impressed at the tournament, with all five Warriors finishing strong and leading the team to a 17th-place finish.

For more on the Warriors’ big week, see No slowing down the Warriors as wrestling season heats up …