All-Area Boys’ Cross-Country Runner of the Year: Four-year run ends in titles, redemption for Flintridge Prep’s Van Scoter

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — It’s hard to envision anything but success happening for Flintridge Prep cross-country senior Jack Van Scoter if one were only to look upon results from the just concluded season.

After all, the 19-year-old turned in six victorious efforts, was near the top of just about every race that mattered and led his squad to a treasure chest’s worth of first-place gold.

Yet, heading into his senior season, it could have been argued that Van Scoter had suffered more heartbreak and close calls than celebrated victories.

It was those setbacks, seemingly on an annual basis, that both fired up Van Scoter to a wild season of success and yet cooled him whenever he got ahead of himself.

This year, Van Scoter left no doubt nor regrets as he led his team to a Prep League, a CIF Southern Section Division V and CIF State Division V title, while individually enjoying both league and Southern Section crowns.

For those efforts and more, Van Scoter was unanimously selected the 2015 All-Area Boys’ Cross-Country Runner of the Year for a second straight season by the sportswriters of the Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader and La Cañada Valley Sun.

It is the third consecutive year a runner from Flintridge Prep has earned the honor.

“For a while, it felt like we were fighting against gravity,” Van Scoter said. “It’s tough. The odds were always against us and something would always happen. All you can do is just keep working, keep fighting and hopefully you’ll get through it. We did and I’m still glowing about it.

“I can’t express how long and how hard this team has worked for this season. It wasn’t a one-year thing.”

There was certainly no denying the Rebels’ dominance in the Prep League.

On Halloween, Van Scoter led the Rebels to perfection as they defeated archrival Pasadena Poly, 15-58, for the program’s sixth straight league title and 23rd in 24 years.

Individually, Van Scoter was untouchable in easily running to his second straight league crown in a time of 15 minutes 38 seconds.

“Our program has been at a place for a while where we really set our sights far beyond the Prep League,” Flintridge Prep Coach Ingrid Herskind said. “You have to start at Prep League, sure, but Jack and his teammates wouldn’t have been satisfied if that’s all they finished with.”

It’s been after Prep League finals, where situations and circumstances became dicey for the Rebels, particularly at the state level.

In Van Scoter’s freshman year of 2012, the Rebels had ideas of sweeping Southern Section and state titles, only to finish second at the Southern Section final to St. Margaret’s (46-61) and agonizingly runner-up to St. Joseph Notre Dame, 86-87, at the state finals at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

His sophomore year, the Rebels tasted some success as they won the Southern Section Division V crown, 56-79, over Thacher on the same day the Rebels girls also won a title. The next week at state, an injured Rebels squad placed a disappointing fourth with 127 points and missed the podium.

Last season, however, may have been the most difficult.

Down one runner to injury and with two others sick, top-ranked Flintridge Prep lost the section title to Xavier College Prep, 65-85. The following week, Flintridge Prep was third at state with 110 points.

“As you can imagine, those time were outrageously frustrating,” Van Scoter said. “Nikhil Poole and I were the only runners on varsity in 2012 when we lost [state] by a point and we’re the only ones who have both been here through the last three years, which have all been disappointments. It just seemed like we needed a shake-up or something.”

That “something” was a dominant regular season turned in by Van Scoter, who admitted that he needed to change.

“I really bought in this year,” Van Scoter said. “I didn’t always agree with the workouts and believe that we were going to the right meets the past couple of seasons. I didn’t always agree with the direction and in the previous years I would have let that turn into a bad attitude. I took myself out of races before they even started.”

Van Scoter ran to victory at the Palos Verdes Invitational (9:58.96), the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational Division V sweepstakes (14:45) and the Clovis Invitational (15:13.1).

It was at Clovis on Oct. 10 where Van Scoter first began to feel something was distinctly different.

His Rebels moved up into the Division IV race and still won, defeating Sage Creek, 41-65, in a team time of 80:30.8. That mark was the second-best ever turned in at Woodward Park by a Division V school, trailing only 80:29.6 set by St. Margaret’s in 2011.

“I don’t know if there was a starting point to this year or not or a point where we knew we could do something special,” Van Scoter said. “If you ask coach Ingrid, I’m sure she’ll say it was at the [state] podium last year where we took third.

“For me, it felt like we were all on the same page and bought in at Clovis. We were in a higher division on the state course and we were a second off the record. It was a ‘wow’ moment and we realized it just wasn’t a dream.”

Fast forward six weeks and the Rebels found themselves in a familiar position, participating in the Southern Section Division V championships at Mt. San Antonio College top-ranked.

While Flintridge Prep entered the meet top-ranked in 2014, all similarities ended there, as Van Scoter won the individual Division V title in an area-best mark of 15:12.6 and the Rebels blasted Desert Christian, 37-68, for the program’s second section title in three years and seventh in school history.

“It was an awesome experience to get that win,” said Poole, who missed the 2014 section finals with an injury, but finished 16th in 16:37.2 this year. “It meant a lot for me and for especially Jack. He ran the race he had to and he led us.”

All that remained for Van Scoter was what had eluded him for three seasons and the Rebels program for 11 years – a CIF State Division V championship.

“There’s no question that the pressure was on,” Herskind said. “We had been at this point before, certainly Jack had been there three times himself. We had come so close. You wanted to get excited because the championship was in reach, but you also wanted to be cautious.”

On Nov. 28, three postseasons of angst were swept away by Van Scoter and his teammates.

The Rebels destroyed Marin Academy, 43-168, to clinch the program’s fifth state title and first since 2004. Flintridge Prep also didn’t miss on its opportunity to set that Woodward Park course record, this time bumping off St. Margaret’s with a team time of 79:40.8.

About the only sour note came in the individual competition as St. Joseph Notre Dame’s Teare Cooper (15:07.25) edged runner-up Van Scoter (15:07.28).

Despite that setback, Van Scoter was more than pleased with the final result.

“That’s what I had been waiting for for three years,” said Van Scoter, who capped his career by placing 27th (15:46) at the Foot Locker National Championships in San Diego on Dec. 13. “To win a Southern Section and state championship isn’t something that I just set out to do this year, but four years ago. I had different teammates back then, but the goal had always been a title. I couldn’t be prouder of this team.”