In an annual ceremony hosted by the San Diego High School Sports Association on Oct. 7, the school was ranked the No. 1 public high school for athletics in San Diego County.
Last school year, the school won a record-setting number of 12 CIF titles — baseball, girls golf, boys golf, field hockey, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse, boys volleyball, boys swim, boys tennis, girls soccer, girls tennis and competition cheer — the most in school history and in the county.
All coaches of teams that won CIF titles the previous school year were invited to the ceremony, where they were awarded for their achievements. The school had five more CIF titles than its closest competitor, Cathedral Catholic High School.
“I would say it is our legacy [that makes our athletics program so successful in particular],” Charlenne Falcis-Stevens, the school’s athletic director and head track and field coach, said. “I think that over the 50 years that the school has been open, athletics has established itself as a dominant force … so there’s that pressure put on our programs, not intentionally, but to live up to our legacy, to live up to our history, and when we do, it’s absolutely amazing, but that also means that we always have a target on us.”
Emilia Biebel (11), varsity girls soccer captain, noticed something similar.
“The culture of all the teams and that winning reputation [in particular makes the program so successful],” Biebel said. “ I think that when every program is so strong and successful at their individual sport, that success breeds success. And when you see another program succeed, it makes you want to do the same and kind of match that caliber of everybody.”
The school is also ranked second in the Niche Rankings Best High Schools for Athletes in the San Diego Area and sixth in California. Not only is the school well-known for its athletic programs, but also for academic excellence. The school is ranked No. 2 in the Niche Rankings 2025 Best Public High Schools in the San Diego Area, following Canyon Crest Academy. SDUHSD is also ranked as No. 1 in the Best School District in the San Diego Area by Niche Rankings, No. 2 in the state and No. 18 in the country.
“Since every [athletic] program is so strong, it’s a really big commitment to be a member of one of these teams, and you’re putting in a lot of time and effort that you may not be at another school,” Biebel (11) said.
Constantly under high expectations, Falcis-Stevens emphasized the importance of acknowledging that each athlete is a high school student.
“They’re still high school athletes that make choices, and we are teaching them to become not just lifelong learners, but to be conscious of what life will be like for them after … Athletics is one avenue of teaching those life skills,” Falcis-Stevens said. “I tell our coaches that their classroom happens to be a field or the gym or the pool, but they are teachers.”
Such expectations can positively affect the performances of student-athletes.
“I would say it’s like a positive pressure,” Biebel said. “It’s always a better feeling to be expected to win than to just be like, ‘Okay, we’ll just go out there and give it our best.’ So there definitely is pressure to win and succeed in everything that we do, but I view that as a positive thing, and I view that as a privilege to just get to be at the top of our sport. I think that’s a really cool thing, and I’m grateful that I go to Torrey Pines and I get to be a part of that.”
Victoria Adolphson (12), a track and field member, expressed a similar sentiment.
“At first I was like, ‘Shoot, I’m a part of this really good school with super talented athletes,’ and I definitely felt the pressure, but once I got out there I realized that pressure is what motivates everyone to perform at their best to live up to our reputation,” Adolphson said.
The high standards gave confidence in representing such a talented program, according to Adolphson.
Being a student-athlete means there is a need to balance schoolwork and athletics. Time management is important, according to Biebel.
“I’m thankful that my coaches are really understanding [of the need to manage schoolwork and sports],” Adolphson said.
The school is currently under construction on an aquatic center that would bring a long-awaited home pool. In the past year, improvements to the school’s athletic facilities were made, including a refurbished softball field, renovated locker rooms and additional team rooms.
“I think, if anything else, we have more space, which has been sorely needed because we have a lot of programs practicing at the exact same time, and they’ve had to share facilities,” Falcis-Stevens said. “They’ve had to work together to make it work for everybody. It’ll be nice to have a pool on our campus for our water polo and swim teams to be on campus, for people to come and watch them on our school site, because they don’t get the same fan base as all the other sports that happen to be on campus.”
With the extensive improvements on campus being a strong addition, the athletics program is set to flourish, and the school legacy is to be continued.
“I feel really proud [that the school won the most CIF titles in school history], because I know that I was a part of that,” Biebel said.
