All-Around Good Sport : High schools: La Canada’s Ross Allan has yet to find a sport--or an academic subject--that he cannot master.

For a guy who always seems prepared to scale athletic and academic hurdles with equal ease, Ross Allan certainly lacked knowledge about trends in high school sports when he entered La Canada High as a freshman four years ago.

Allan was under the mistaken impression that participating in a variety of sports was the norm for most athletes.

Specialization? That was something to ponder after he finished a few years of medical school.

“When I first got here it was, ‘Hey these are the sports I play and these are the ones I’m going to play in high school,’ ” Allan recalled. “I thought everyone would do that.”

It soon became apparent to Allan that his hypothesis was false.

Most high school athletes limit their participation to one or two sports. Some do it because those are the only ones in which they are interested or capable. Others are instructed--and sometimes pressured--by coaches, parents or scouts to concentrate on a single activity that might earn them a college scholarship or a professional contract.

Allan, however, kept to his plan and thus became part of a shrinking breed--the three-sport athlete.

The only things more impressive than Allan’s independence are his accomplishments on the playing field and in the classroom.

Consider:

He is an almost certain two-time All-Southern Section and three-time All-Rio Hondo League soccer player who helped lead La Canada to the 1-A championship last season.

He was selected to the Times All-Glendale and Rio Hondo League football teams last fall after booting, among other less spectacular kicks, two field goals from 49 yards and one each from 45, 44 and 43 yards.

He is a returning all-league first baseman for the La Canada baseball team, batting .423 last season.

He was a member of the school’s Academic Decathlon team and a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist who scored in the 97th percentile on the Pre-Scholastic Aptitude Test.

If ever there was a money player, it’s Allan, who also serves as senior class treasurer.

“Baseball is my favorite sport,” Allan says. “It’s the hardest sport of all of them and I think that might be the reason I like it.

“It’s more challenging.”

Allan is hoping to compete in at least two sports in college. Stanford, UCLA, Cal and Claremont-McKenna are among his top choices.

His most immediate challenge, though, is helping a young Spartan soccer team repeat as Southern Section champion.

On Tuesday, Allan contributed an assist on what proved to be the game-winning by goal by Jensen Jaraba as the top-ranked Spartans beat No. 2 Agoura, 3-1, in a second-round playoff game.

La Canada (23-1-2) meets La Mirada, a 3-2 winner Tuesday over Canyon Springs, in a quarterfinal game on Friday.

Allan, 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, leads La Canada with 22 goals. He scored most of those during the first part of the season when Spartan co-Coaches Afshin Ghotbi and Louie Bilowitz moved him to offensive midfield and experimented with younger players at defensive positions.

But once league play began, Allan returned to sweeper. Since moving back to defense, La Canada has allowed just four goals in 12 games.

“Ross is a brilliant reader of the game,” Bilowitz said. “He’s excellent in the air and knows how to position himself in the right place.

“If he needs to make a quick short pass, he can. If the opponents are packing in tight, he can put the ball long into the corners.

“He’s a real athlete.”