Tennis success tops list of accomplishments for Burroughs High

This is the third in a four-part series looking back on the sports accomplishments of the four local high schools during the 2012-13 year. This installment is Burroughs High:

When the Burroughs High boys’ tennis team lost its best player, senior Garrett Auproux, to an injury midway through the season, hopes for a Pacific League championship dimmed for the Indians.

However, the team’s players rallied and the Indians captured that league title. The championship was a high point among sports teams at Burroughs during the 2012-13 campaign.

In addition to the team championship, Indians players also secured league singles and doubles championships.

With Auproux out of the picture, Sawyer Patterson, a sophomore, defeated Hoover’s Oleg Simonyan, 6-3, 6-4, to take the singles title at the league finals.

Patterson also did well in the CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament at the University of Redlands. He notched a 6-0, 6-0 win against David Gonzalez of Kaiser and then defeated Eric West of Shadow Hills, 6-1, 6-1. He was then defeated by Victor Brown of Ayala, 6-2, 6-2.

Burroughs also received a league title from the doubles squad of Michael Whelan and Calvin Fox, which rebounded to notch a 5-7, 7-5, 10-6, victory against cross-town rivals Keon Park and Clayton Pauff of Burbank.

Whelan and Fox were no-shows for the CIF Southern Section individual competition.

The year didn’t exactly start out promising for Burroughs sports, as no team won a league title during the fall season.

However, despite finishing third in the Pacific League, the Indians girls’ volleyball team stepped it up in the postseason and advanced to the Division II-A quarterfinals, falling to Pasadena Poly, 25-18, 24-26, 25-13, 25-16.

The team was paced by junior middle blocker Caitlin Cottrell, who was an All-CIF Southern Section Division II-A first-team selection, as well as an All-Pacific League first-team pick. Cottrell averaged 12 kills and 1.2 aces a match.

Also during the fall, both Burroughs’ cross-country teams advanced to the CIF-SS prelims, as the girls placed third and the boys were fourth in the Pacific League.

In boys’ water polo, the Indians qualified for the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons by placing fourth in the Pacific League. Unfortunately for Burroughs, its postseason stint was cut short with a 12-5 loss to Riverside Poly in its Division V opener.

It was the boys’ soccer team that took center stage during the winter season.

The Indians surged to their first Pacific League championship in four years under Coach Mike Kodama. Kodama finished his second season back with Burroughs after leading the program for 22 years and stepping down after the 2008-09 season.

Burroughs won its opening match of the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs, defeating Anaheim, 4-3, at home before downing host Redlands East Valley, 2-1, in the second round. Unfortunately for the Indians, their season ended in the quarterfinals with a 4-3 loss in overtime at third-seeded Palmdale.

The Indians had five players who were honored with All-CIF awards. Earning Division III first-team accolades was senior midfielder Brian Arzate and senior midfielder Manny Celio. Making the second team was senior forward Jorman Herrera, while junior forward Michael Conrad and junior forward Brandon Gerlach were third-team selections.

Arzate was also voted the Pacific League Player of the Year, and although he had just two goals and two assists, Arzate was the leader on the field for the Indians.

The girls’ soccer team stayed in contention for a league title up until the final two regular-season matches, but settled for third place. The Indians fell in the first round of the Division III playoffs to Flintridge Prep, 2-0.

Also enjoying success during the winter was the girls’ basketball team, which won a share of the Pacific League title with Arcadia.

Unfortunately for the Indians, they couldn’t carry over that success into the playoffs, as they fell in a CIF Southern Section Division I-A first-round contest to Fountain Valley, 61-57.

The squad was paced by senior center Aysia Shellmire, the league co-player of the year. Shellmire did a workmanlike job for the Indians all season, as her 16.9 points per game were a team high. In addition, she averaged eight rebounds, 3.7 blocks and two steals a game.

In girls’ water polo, Burroughs placed second in the Pacific League behind CIF-SS Division V champion Crescenta Valley. The Indians had an outstanding goalkeeper in senior Ahsha Earwood, who tallied 21 saves in the team’s CIF Southern Section Division V first-round loss to Camarillo, 7-2.

It was all-league first-team senior Lawrence White who led the boys’ basketball team to an at-large postseason berth. White averaged 18.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, three assists and two blocks a game.

During the spring, it was again the boys’ volleyball team that enjoyed a fine run, tying with Claremont for the Pacific League title behind the play of senior outside hitter Daniel Jacobs.

The Indians also advanced to the Division II second round, losing to Dos Pueblos, 25-19, 24-26, 25-12, 25-20.

Jacobs, an All-CIF Division II first-team pick and the co-league player of the year, paced the team with 219 kills and 36 aces, to go along with 110 digs and 15 blocks. The Leader Male Athlete of the Year ended his career at Burroughs as the program’s all-time kill leader with 729.

The school’s baseball team stayed in contention for a league championship late into the season. The Indians ended up finishing third behind co-champions Burbank and Crescenta Valley.

Senior shortstop Brian Pozos earned All-CIF Southern Section Division II second-team honors and was a first-team all-league selection. Pozos hit .425 with nine of his 37 hits going for extra bases, while driving 24 runs, scoring 25 and stealing 16 bases.

In softball, the Indians qualified for the playoffs after tying for third with Crescenta Valley. Burroughs was eliminated in the first round of the Division III playoffs by Colton, 2-0.

During the track season, the Indians produced two champions in freshman Sarah Prystupa and senior Gracia Innocentia. Prystupa outshined a field full of upperclassmen in winning the girls’ pole vault in 8 feet 6 and Innocentia, lapped about seven runners in winning the girls’ 3,200 meters in 11 minutes, 22.3 seconds.