Ontario High School sophomore Yesenia Preciado earned a place in history this week when she broke the CIF-Southern Section record for goals in a season.

Preciado had an impressive 12 goals in the Jaguars’ 15-3 win over Montclair High School on Tuesday in the regular season finale for both teams.

That showing gave her 196 which bettered the mark of 188 set by Stephanie Contreras of Los Altos in 2010.

She knew exactly how many she needed going into the match.

“It’s a nice honor and I’m happy I did it,” she said.

Preciado has only been competing in the sport about four years. She was in competitive swimming but got bored with the monotonous nature of that. She has two older sisters playing softball at four-year schools and one had a friend whose brother played water polo and encouraged her to try it.

“I really liked it right off because it was a challenge,” she said.

Led by Preciado the Ontario girls went 18-11 overall, with a 7-3 Mt. Baldy League record good enough for second place behind Alta Loma.

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Ontario has never won a league title in girls water polo, but the Jaguars have a young and up-and-coming team that just might be capable of doing so.

The team, directed by second-year coach Howard Hyde, is 12-4 overall and 2-0 in Mt. Baldy League play.

The driving force behind the team is sophomore Yesenia Preciado, who has already scored 105 goals, with 38 of those coming last weekend in five matches at the Nogales Tournament. She was first team All-League last year as a freshman.

“She is a strong swimmer in the water, but she is also very creative,” Hyde said. “You hear it with basketball players all the time, that they can create their own shot. Well, she can create her own shot too.”

Hyde thinks Preciado, a member of the Foothill Water Polo Club, is capable of playing at the Division I level in college. She would be the third player in the family to move on to college athletics following sister Melina, who plays softball at Division I Mississippi, and another Jackie, who plays at Division II Montana State-Billings.

“She’s only a sophomore so we’re early in the process,” Hyde said. “She definitely has that potential.”

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