By Rick Assad
Two colossal boys’ water polo programs are looking to keep in stride and continue its winning ways as Burbank High and Burroughs take to the water this season.
Former Bears’ standout and current Bulldogs’ coach, David Arakelyan, has built a strong program, has sixteen players at his disposal and are more than capable of duplicating or bettering last season in which Burbank went 22-11 and 6-2 for second place in Pacific League action.
“I’m excited for this upcoming season. We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves individually and as a group,” he said. “We have a few athletes returning from last year and some fresh faces that are ready to make an impact right away.”
Those who Arakelyan feels are prepared to make a dent are senior driver Greg Baboudjian, senior center Avet Avetisyan, senior goalie Christian Lazaryan, senior utility Gevorg Choginyan, and senior utility Alex Vardanyan.
The rest of the members who are ready and eager include junior driver Jack Babelyan and sophomore center/defender Avvo Ilangesyan.
The other members of the squad are Michael Bakrgyan, Anthony Gemdzhyan, Narek Karayan, Karo Nordanyan, Leo Khachaturian, David Martikyan, Daniel Babelyan, Tigran Marjanyan and Edgar Norentsayan.
Arakelyan, who took the Bulldogs, 22-3 and 8-0 in league during the 2021-2022 campaign to the CIF Southern Section Division VI finals, ultimately losing to Carpentaria, 12-9, is always confident in his players.
“The expectations and goals always remain the same for our program, which is to put ourselves in a position to contend for a Pacific League title and go as far as we can in CIF,” he declared.
Arakelyan addressed the need to do well in the league.
“The Pacific League keeps getting better and better every year. We have some very talented athletes and coaches in our league,” he said. “I expect every game that we have to be a battle. It’s not going to be easy and we don’t want it to be easy.”
Jacob Cook is the longtime Burroughs head coach and is assisted by Martin Ortega Jennison, who has taken on more responsibility for a team that posted a 14-15 record and 6-3 in league for third place.
The team includes seniors Atticus Mata, Micah Abbey, Harrison Siegel, Logan Turla, Dean Yuzna, Aidan Means, Josh Castaneda, Ian Duffield, Justin Molina and Caleb Du For.
Nicola Nasev and Nicolas Oporta are juniors, and the rest of the team includes Serob Berberyan, Roan Kelly, Matthew Rodriguez and Aaron Sotolongo.
“This season I’m excited to see our juniors and seniors step up and lead us towards a league championship,” Cook said. “We have all the right pieces to be a highly competitive team and make a strong run in the CIF playoffs.”
Cook added: “We’ve kicked off the season with great momentum, starting 5-0 and winning the 4th annual Pasadena Polytechnic Tournament, thanks to the leadership of Harrison Siegel, Ian Duffied and Atticus Mata,” he noted.
In addition to the seniors, Cook praised the juniors.
“Our juniors are also stepping into crucial roles, with players like Nicola Nasev making a significant impact, as evidenced by this past weekend’s performance,” he said. “Many of our athletes bring invaluable experience from their club seasons and Junior Olympics in San Jose, where they earned silver and bronze medals in their divisions. I’m eager to see them channel that confidence and enthusiasm into this season.”
Cook is also hopeful the team matches what a fairly recent team accomplished.
“This is going to be an exciting year, one where I believe we have the potential to shake things up in a big way,” he said. “I encourage everyone to come out and watch because this season reminds me of a group that won CIF in 2016. The energy and talent on this team are truly special.”
