Arlington High School (California)

Arlington High School is a public high school in Riverside, California, United States.

History
Founded in 1973, Arlington is one of 5 comprehensive high schools in Riverside Unified School District. The first graduating class at Arlington was the Class of 1975.

Arlington had since used Ramona high school’s football field for their graduations due to the influx of students they received over the years.

The school’s journalism class that produced The Mane Thing since the 1980s had ended with its last newspaper issue in early June 2019 following the retirement of the school’s journalist teacher. However, the journalism class lasted for another year but officially ended its course in June 2020.

Due to the pandemic, the Class of 2020 graduated through a drive-thru graduation at Arlington.

Plans for the $26.6 million dollar high school’s modernization construction under Measure Project O began in Winter of 2019 but did not start until the Summer of 2020. The construction and updates did not officially start until December 2020.

Removal of 8 handball courts and previous auxiliary gym would be replaced by a 8,755 sf newly updated Auxiliary gymnasium. Along with the removal of 7 portable buildings and a building that housed the old journalism, media, and a classroom building were replaced by the new 10,262 sf Biomedical, Media Arts Academy, and Special education building.

Upgrades were also done to the school’s stadium. A 2,000 sf concession and restroom building, a 1,250 home seat expansion and newly added 1,000 visitors seat expansion of the bleachers at the track and field, and upgrades to the existing stadium field sports lighting. As well as upgrading the Administration Building, Student Service Building, and to the outdoor swimming pool and equipment.

With the school’s construction finishing in early May 2022, the Class of 2022 became the “first” class to graduate at the school’s football field in early June 2022.

Arlington hit its 50th year in 2023.

Sports
Football – 1973 (with no seniors on the team) won 1st round CIF playoff game vs Big Bear.

State championships

 * Baseball – 1999

CIF Southern Section champion

 * Baseball – 1999, 2002, 2004
 * Football – 1981, 1990, 2021
 * Water Polo – 1998
 * Girls Water Polo – 2006, 2010
 * Girls Tennis – 2008, 2009
 * Boys Tennis – 2010, 2011, 2012
 * Boys Soccer — 2019

CIF Southern Section Divisional Place Winners
Boys Swimming Girls Swimming
 * BUTTERFLY – 100 YARDS
 * 1979 1st place 2-A Tom Hobbs, Arlington 52.46
 * Bob Merrill 1st place 100 meter sprint 49.9876 state record*
 * FREESTYLE – 50 YARDS
 * 1983 1st place 3-A Heidi Planter, Arlington 24.22
 * BUTTERFLY – 100 YARDS
 * 1985 1st place 3-A Marla Bessegger, Arlington 57.23
 * BREASTSTROKE – 100 YARDS
 * 1983 1st place 3-A Heidi Planter, Arlington 1:07.12

Boys Track and Field
 * HIGH JUMP
 * 1980 1st place 3-A Chris Harper, Arlington 6-08
 * LONG JUMP
 * 1980 1st place 3-A Chris Harper, Arlington 24-03.50

Girls Track and Field
 * SHOT PUT
 * 1984 1st place 2-A Pam Alexander, Arlington 44-04.25

Boys Wrestling
 * 1981 Steve Bottini 3rd place 135
 * 1982 Sonny Ciprion 3rd place 103
 * 1985 Ron Main 4th place 185
 * 1993 Jason Tupper 1st place 119
 * 1993 Shawn Maguire 4th place 152
 * 1996 Brandon Quaid 5th Place 160
 * 1999 Mike Werner 6th place 275
 * 1999 Russell Clark 4th place 160
 * 2000 Richard Ybarra 6th place 103
 * 2000 Mike Werner 2nd place 275
 * 2000 Allan Gutscher 1st place 135
 * 2001 Allan Gutscher 6th place 135
 * 2002 Allan Gutscher 4th place 135
 * 2003 Jon Castillo 3rd place 189
 * 2004 Chris Luna 6th place 215
 * 2006 Brandon Helm 1st place 135
 * 2007 Alex Suarez 4th place 275
 * 2007 Brandon Helm 1st place 140
 * 2008 David Skane 1st Place 189
 * 2008 Phillip Tobin 1st place 215 "Upper Weight Most Valuable Wrestler"
 * 2009 Jacob Rock 6th place 171
 * 2011 Billy Cezeski 5th place 152
 * 2011 Michael Nicolas 2nd place 103
 * 2012 Darin Pazmino 2nd place 160
 * 2012 Ryon Schafer 5th place 120
 * 2012 Michael Behnke 3rd place 138
 * 2013 Miko Flores 3rd place 115
 * 2014 Alan Inzunza 6th place 195
 * 2015 Victor Jacinto 4th place 106
 * 2015 Jesus Macias 4th place 285
 * 2016 Victor Jacinto 4th place 106
 * 2017 Alex Elias 2nd place 220
 * 2017 Fernando Felix 7th place 160
 * 2019 Artie Carranza 1st place 106
 * 2019 Robert Blanco 6th place 145
 * 2020 Artie Carranza 1st place 106
 * 2020 Deshawn Mercadel 2nd place 170
 * 2020 Isaac Valencia 4th place 132
 * 2022 Artie Carranza 1st place 113
 * 2024 Gavin Equihua 6th place 106

Girls Wrestling
 * 2010 Erin Leach 2nd Place 103
 * 2011 Larissa Chavez 5th place 126
 * 2022 Regina Awana 3rd place 121
 * 2024 Jeslyn Ledezma 6th place 145

CIF Southern Section Masters Place Winners
Boys Wrestling
 * 1985 – Ron Main 5th place 185
 * 1999 – Mike Werner 6th place 275
 * 2000 – Mike Werner 4th place 275
 * 2012 – Michael Behnke 6th place 138
 * 2020 Artie Carranza 9th place 106
 * 2022 Artie Carranza 2nd place 113

CIF State Place Winners
Girls Track and Field
 * SHOT PUT
 * 1984 1st place Pam Alexander, Arlington 44-04.25

Girls Wrestling
 * 2010 Erin Leach 5th place 103

Mock Trial
Arlington students won the National High School Mock Trial Championship in 1994.

Envirothon champions

 * Envirothon: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013

Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
Award-winning corps of cadets learning Integrity, Service, and Excellence from retired Air Force personnel.

Choir Program
Arlington High School has a renowned choral program and is currently conducted by Ray Medina. Previous conductors include Kelli Dower and Tim Lutz. There are 5 different choirs at Arlington: Men's Choir, Beginning Women's Choir, Advanced Women's Choir, The Mane Attraction (Show Choir), and the Chamber Singers. The premiere ensemble is the Chamber Singers. The Chamber Singers have a rich history and are extremely active within the community, which includes participation in the annual Disneyland Candlelight Procession & Ceremony. They have participated every year since 1985. In 2014 they were invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York and performed there the summer of 2015.

ACDA National Honor Choir Members
 * Bradford Stephens Tenor II - 2009
 * Christian Koshay Tenor I - 2009
 * Josue Jurado Bass II - 2009

Golden Pride Marching Band and Color Guard
The Arlington High School Color Guard made Winter Guard International Class A Finals in 1992. The guard qualified for Open Class Finals in 1994 but got a timing penalty which moved Clayton Valley High School into Finals.

Notable alumni

 * Lucas Duda, former professional baseball player (New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays)
 * Bill Murphy, former professional baseball player (Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays)
 * Nick Neugebauer, former professional baseball player (Milwaukee Brewers)