Top 10 Performances in an Individual Setting: Vose adds one last title to impressive resume

The area’s top 10 individual performances in an individual setting from the 2014-15 season were voted on by the sportswriters of the Glendale News-Press.

1 Kirsten Vose at CIF Southern Section Division I Finals: In what turned out to be Vose’s swan song, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy senior reaffirmed again why she’s the area’s best by capturing a title at Riverside City College on May 16.

The USC-bound Vose clinched the Division I 200-yard individual medley in a Division I record time of 1 minute, 56.07 seconds, which broke the previous school standard set by Andrea Kropp in 2010.

The championship was the second individual title in the career for Vose, who entered the race seeded second to JSerra’s Sonia Wang.

“To go as fast as she did, it was historic,” Tologs Coach Steve Bergen said that day. “That IM was otherworldly.”

Vose’s time was the third-fastest high school mark and fifth-best in the nation at the time.

Not only did Vose win a title that day, but she also set a new school record in the 100 breaststroke in a second-place mark of 1:00.57.

Lastly, Vose joined with teammates Christina Campbell, Caitlin Smith and Kate Herrill to place eighth in the 200 medley relay race in 1:46.49.

The points from all those races helped Flintridge Sacred Heart finish in the top 10 for a third consecutive year as the Tologs took ninth place.

Vose finished as an All-American in both her individual events was later named the All-Area Girls’ Swimmer of the Year.

2 Trenton Julian at CIF Southern Section Division II Finals: Perhaps the Nitros sophomore wasn’t quite prepared for the historic afternoon awaiting him May 16 at Riverside City College.

The Rose Bowl Aquatics product won his school’s first CIF championships in 44 years.

Julian entered as the No. 6 seed, but pulled off a huge upset in winning the 100-yard butterfly in a school-record time of 49.39 seconds, which captured the program its first title since Mark Chatfield won in 1971.

The record was the finale of three school-best marks set by Julian in 2015.

Previous to the victory in the 100 butterfly, Julian also moved up in the 200 IM, as the fourth-seeded sophomore finished third in 1:50.64.

Julian finished as an All-American in both events and was also named the All-Area Boys’ Swimmer of the Year.

3 Barrett Weiss at CIF State Championships: What was a wonderful cap to an incredible season almost didn’t happen for Weiss.

The Flintridge Prep senior pole vaulter walked away disappointed at the CIF State preliminaries at Buchanan High in Clovis on the evening of June 5.

Weiss was one of seven vaulters with a height of 14 feet, 8 inches and was told he did not advance to the state finals the next day due a tiebreaker.

Weiss and his coaches protested the decision and were told an hour and a half later that their appeal had been accepted and that Weiss would be able to compete in the finals on Saturday.

Suddenly with a second chance, Weiss tied with Oak Ridge’s Austin Laut and Marina’s Jett Gordon with the best vault of the final day at 15-9.

Weiss took third due to the number of scratches and finished as the area’s lone state medalist.

Weiss punched his ticket to state the previous weekend by vaulting to a season-best 16 feet in winning the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet.

Weiss was named the All-Area Boys’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

4 Jasher Foster at CIF Southern Section Division III Championships: It was an afternoon to remember for the St. Francis High junior at Cerritos College on May 23.

Foster entered second-seeded in the Division III 110-meter high hurdles with a mark of 14.52, which was well behind the pace of Gabrielino’s Gary Hawkins Jr. (14.34).

Yet, the football star proved he was the best that Saturday afternoon when he upset Hawkins and the field to capture the 110 hurdles title in a then season-best mark of 14.30, which was just ahead of runner-up Orlando Wallace of Cathedral City, who took silver in 14.31.

The victory clinched Foster a berth to the following week’s Masters Meet back in Norwalk, while also etching Foster’s name into the record books.

Foster became his school’s first champion since Andrew Steben captured the Division III pole vault title in 15-6 in 2006. Foster was also only the second-ever Golden Knights hurdles champion, joining Allan Grant, who won the 300-meter crown in 37.55 back in 1985.

Foster also competed in the 300 hurdles and took seventh in 39.86, which was the 24th overall best time among all divisions.

Foster eventually advanced to the state finals in the 110 hurdles, while his personal best for the season was clocked at 14.22.

5 Barrett Weiss at CIF Southern Section Masters meet: Even though the Flintridge Prep senior went on to star at state, it could be argued that his best effort all season came at the Masters Meet at Cerritos College on May 30.

Despite hailing from Division IV, the lowest division in the Southern Section, Weiss soared at Norwalk and tied with Marina’s Jett Gordon for the top height with a mark of 15 feet, 9 inches.

The pair then had a jump-off, which initially began with a height of 16-3.

After neither competitor was able to reach 16-3, the bar was lowered to 16 feet.

That’s when Weiss blasted his previous personal-best height of 15-6 with a mark of 16 feet. The height proved too much for Gordon, who kicked the bar and, in the process, handed over the Masters title to Weiss.

Weiss never topped or matched the mark as he advanced to the CIF State Championships and eventually placed third in 15-9.

6 Jack Van Scoter at CIF Southern Section Division V Championship: The junior provided his ailing teammates with strong leadership and an even better effort at the Division V Championships at Mt. San Antonio College on Nov. 22.

Van Scoter became his school’s second-ever Section champion by winning the title in an area-best time of 15 minutes, 7 seconds, which was comfortably ahead of St. Margaret’s senior Collin Price (15:16).

Van Scoter’s victory came directly a year after former teammate Alan Yoho won his school’s inaugural championship.

With one runner held out due to injury and another two running through sickness, Van Scoter’s scoring helped earned the Rebels second place with 85 points, behind champion Xavier Prep, which tallied 65 points.

The effort was an important factor in meriting Van Scoter the All-Area Boys’ Cross-Country Runner of the Year Award.

7 Edmen Shahbazyan at CIF Southern Section Coastal Division Championships: From early on, it seemed as if the Hoover High senior wrestler’s run at the Coastal Division Championships at Lake Elsinore Lakeside would be a quick one.

On the first day of action on Feb. 21, Shahbazyan suffered what appeared to be a devastating pin by Bishop Amat’s Connor Ramirez in 3 minutes, 30 seconds in the double-elimination tournament.

With his odds long to be able to survive and advance, Shahbazyan did just that as he won five straight matches and finished by taking third at the tournament.

Perhaps Shahbazyan’s signature victory during the streak came in the third-place match at 195 pounds as the unranked Tornado defeated Southern Section No. 14-ranked Brandyn Baker of Eleanor Roosevelt by a score of 8-2.

The victory came after Shahbazyan earned advancement to the following week’s CIF Southern Section Masters Meet at Ontario’s Rabobank Arena.

Shahbazyan became only the second wrestler ever in school history and second wrestler in the area, along with La Cañada’s David Vardanian, to advance to Masters.

8 Kirsten Vose at Mission League swim finals: The USC-bound senior swimmer flexed her muscles one last time in front of her league opponents at the finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center on April 28.

The Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy product won two individual titles and was a part of two championship relay squads as she finished with four crowns on the day and amazingly capped her four-year run undefeated.

Vose lowered her own league record in winning the 200 individual medley in a mark of 2 minutes, 2.33 seconds and the 100 freestyle (50.04).

Vose also teamed with Kate Herrill, Caitlin Smith and Christina Campbell to set a new league record in the 200 medley relay in 1:48.79.

The only event that Vose didn’t set a record in she still won as the same quartet was victorious in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:37.72, which produced Vose’s 16th league title over a four-year span.

Overall, the Tologs also captured their fourth consecutive league title.

9 Megan Melnyk at Pacific League track and field finals: In what was her final competition ever at Arcadia High, the Crescenta Valley senior turned in a worthy effort.

The Cal State San Luis Obispo-bound athlete was her school’s lone representative to capture two league titles as she showed off her distance savvy.

Melnyk began the evening by capturing the 1,600-meter crown in a time of 5 minutes, 3.6 seconds, which was her second-best time of the season.

Later on, Megan won the 800 meter for the second consecutive season as she breezed to victory in a time of 2:17.16.

Melnyk eventually advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division I championships in both events and was also named the All-Area Girls’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Melnyk also owned the area’s best marks in both the 800 (2:13.25) and 1,600 (5:01.79).

10 Tie Edward Yi at Pacific League swim finals: Maybe no individual swimmer was more necessary to Crescenta Valley High’s ability to maintain its league dominance than was the senior.

Yi won four events at the league finals held at Burbank High on May 7 as the Falcons defeated Arcadia, 513-459, to earn a 23rd consecutive Pacific League title.

From an individual standpoint, Yi won two events in claiming titles in the 100 butterfly (50.25 seconds) and 200 freestyle (1:44.63).

Yi also joined with Eric Park, Hyunsung Kim and Eddie Gallehugh to capture the 400 freestyle relay (3:17.93) and 200 medley relay (1:37.67).

10 Tie Heather MacDougall at Pacific League swim finals: There wasn’t as much drama for the Crescenta Valley High girls as there was for the boys at the league finals at Burbank High on May 7.

Like they had during the season, the Falcons calmly put away their biggest challenger, Arcadia, by a score of 450-339 to extend their championship streak to eight consecutive years.

MacDougall, as has been a regularity every season for her, played a particularly integral role as she helped fill the void created by the absence of Yvette Kim, who missed league finals due to a previous commitment.

MacDougall claimed four victories for her team, winning individual titles in the 100 butterfly (59.09) and 100 breaststroke (1:07.14).

She was also part of the winning 200 medley (1:56.25) and 200 freestyle (1:43.87) relay squads along with Samantha Kohn, Miranda Li and Genevieve Gonzales.