It’s been an exciting year of high school sports in East County, and every school has something to brag about. Here’s a look back at some of the highlights – and we emphasize “some” (feel free to add your favorite highlights, teams and players in a comment at the end of this article) – in roughly chronological order.

• Liberty’s wrestling program boasted two superstar grapplers with the name of David: David Klinsheim and Brittany David. Klingsheim was the California Interscholastic Federation State Wrestling Championship in the 119-pound weight class, capping a perfect 56-0 year. He wasn’t a slouch as a junior either, having won the state championship in the 112-pound class. David, a junior, won the California Girls State Wrestling Championship in Hanford and dominated the 146-pound weight class with an unbeaten record in her first 31 matches.

• Liberty’s girls soccer team won 20 games and went undefeated in league play.

• The Heritage boys and girls basketball teams both had great seasons, each going 19-9 overall (10-5 in league). The girls made it into the second round of the NCS playoffs and the boys got to the third round. The boys also won the CIF North Coast Section Winter Scholastic Team Award for posting a grade point average of 3.54 for the first half of the school year.

• The true powerhouse in girls basketball, though, was Deer Valley, which went undefeated in league play, often beating opponents by 40 points. The Wolverines finished 23-8, making it to the third round of the NCS playoffs and the second round of the NorCal Regional playoffs.

• Deer Valley also excelled in track and field, led by Hammed Suleman, who captured the state triple jump title. But the Heritage boys team took the league championship on the strength of performances by LeVyell Hamilton, Billy Eng, Amir Spencer and Darren Baxter, among others. Other track and field standouts this year included Freedom’s Aimee Rodgers and Liberty’s Wyatt Landrum.

• In the spring, Coach Diane Molsberry guided the Heritage boys tennis team to the Bay Valley Athletic League championship for the first time in the young school’s history, posting a 14-1 league record (19-4 overall). In the fall Molsberry did likewise with the Heritage girls tennis team, which also won the BVAL championship for the first time, posting a 14-1 league record (16-1 overall). Freedom’s Bob Harris and Antioch’s Kaitlyn Simmaro won the individual titles.

• Freedom teams dominated on the diamond this year. The girls softball team, led by ace pitcher and power hitter Hannah Williams, finished 23-4 overall and were undefeated in league play. Unfortunately, the Falcons lost the NCS championship game 2-0 to a tough Livermore team. The boys baseball team went all the way, however, beating De La Salle 3-0 in the Oakland Coliseum on the strength of Freedom’s star lefty Billy Wardell, who threw a one-hitter and went 10-1 on the season. Wardell twice scraped himself up off the dirt after suffering injuries in playoff games to get the wins.

• Deer Valley dominated in most of the fall sports. The girls golf team went undefeated in league play and won the BVAL team title, although Lauren Condor of Heritage three-peated as individual champion. The Deer Valley girls water polo team shared the league title with Liberty.

• The Wolverines girls volleyball team had another powerhouse year, going undefeated in league play (24-12 overall) and making it into the third round of the NCS playoffs.

• And Deer Valley’s football team was nearly unstoppable all season, going 11-0 before finally falling in a surprising 0-26 loss to Pittsburg, a team they had beaten earlier 35-33, in perhaps the most exciting game of the BVAL season.

• The final chapter has yet to be written on the winter sports now underway, but exciting things will be happening. Liberty, Heritage and Deer Valley are fielding strong girls basketball teams. The Deer Valley, Freedom and Heritage boys basketball teams have posted winning preseasons. In soccer, the Freedom and Liberty girls have kicked off their seasons strong, but there looks to be more parity in boys play this year so far.