Tag Archives: Brandon Wilson

Class of 2018 Takes a Step Forward

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The Class of 2018 has turned its tassels at Burbank and Burroughs highs.

Once again both schools graduated a number of fine student athletes, some of which will continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level.

The following is a sampling of what to expect in the immediate future for the now graduated Bulldogs and Indians.

Burbank

Leading the Bulldogs class is multi-sport star and class salutatorian Melissa Daniel, who will attend Stanford University and play beach volleyball.

Melissa Daniel goes for the kill. She will attend Stanford. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Class valedictorian Jonathan Ragheb will attend Harvard University and may attempt to walk on the men’s volleyball team.

Lauren Ryan will attend Hawaii Pacific University, where she will compete in cheer. Nikki Howell will also compete in cheer, but stay a little closer to home by attending Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks. Anna Leonetti will be attending Riverside City College, where she plans to continue in cheer and stunt.

Softball player Bene Snyder will continue her career at Trinity University in Texas.

Fellow softball player Anysia Gonzalez will continue her career at La Sierra University in Riverside.

Bulldog baseball player Abiezer Delgado will continue his career at Hope International University in Fullerton.

Burbank will be represented once again by the presence of a number of football players going to the community college route.

Moorpark College is getting Drew Pendleton, Kaydon Spens and Andrew Rovira. Anthony Lira will attend Los Angeles Valley College. Christian Fajardo is going to Pasadena City College and Darnell Williams will continue his career at College of the Canyons.

Drew Pendleton will play football at Moorpark College. Photo By: Edward Tovmassian

Jessie Czarneki will continue her track and cross country career at the University of Antelope Valley.

Noemi Apreza and Phoebe Forsyth will both continue their distance running careers at Glendale Community College.

Brandon Wilson will continue his water polo career at L.A. Valley College. Lexi Lyneis will continue her water polo career at L.A. Valley College.

Rory Rickey will hope to continue his volleyball career as a walk on at UC San Diego.

Burroughs

The Indians have several athletes who will play major college athletics, led by senior volleyball player Marin Grote.

The 6-foot-5 outside hitter will continue her career at the University of Washington.

Marin Grote will wear purple in college as a member of the Washington Huskies.

Distance running star Jagdeep Chahal, who recently won the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title in the 1,600 meters, will continue his cross country and track career at UC Santa Barbara.

Emily Virtue, who was a cross country national finalist as a sophomore, will continue her career on the opposite coast at Columbia University.

Pole vaulter Elizabeth Switzer is undecided, as she also has the option of going back to gymnastics, which has her first sport.

Also from the girls’ volleyball team, Lauren Zedlar will attend Washington College in Maryland. Sabrina Sullivan will continue her volleyball career at the University of La Verne. Lizzy Jessen will play volleyball at Wellesley College and Ricki Patenaude at College of the Canyons.  Mia Staub, the class salutatorian, will play volleyball at Wheaton College in Chicago.

Jagdeep Chahal will run for UC Santa Barbara.

From the football team, Jacob Real will continue at Glendale Community College.

Basketball player Amir Montgomery is undecided but may be leaning toward Glendale Community College, per coach Allan Ellis.

Volleyball player Diego Rosal will walk on the men’s volleyball team at Pepperdine, where he will join former Indian Max Chamberlain and coach David Hunt, who grew up in the Glendale-Burbank area.

Fellow volleyball player and Pacific League MVP Cole Kaitz will attend Cal State Northridge, but has not decided if he will attempt to walk on or not.

Star distance runner Alex Hirsch will attend Harvey Mudd and run for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Softball pitcher Presley Miraglia plans to continue her career at Cal State Long Beach.

Fellow softball player Jessica Amaya is considering continuing her career Mission College in Sylmar.

 

Burroughs Boys Water Polo Defeats Burbank, 27-21, In Regular Season Finale

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By Rick Assad

Balls were flying around like guided missiles and goals were being tallied in bunches during the Pacific League boys’ water polo regular season finale between Burroughs High and host Burbank on Wednesday afternoon.

The Indians, the No. 1-seeded team when the league playoffs commence next Tuesday at Arcadia, jumped ahead early and were never headed en route to a 27-21 win behind senior utility David Arakelyan’s career and team-high 14 goals.

Burroughs senior David Arakelyan delivered a career and team-best 14 goals in a 27-21 win over Burbank. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Burroughs, along with Crescenta Valley and Hoover, all finished in a three-way tie for first place in league play.

“Both sides know each other really well,” Arakelyan said. “We play club together, most of our guys and most of their guys. We wanted to have fun today. But also wanted to come in serious and hard.”

Arakelyan went on: “We wanted to come in to set the tone for next week, to really play against CV and Hoover no matter what the draw is. We don’t care about a coin flip. We don’t care who we end up playing. We’re going to win next week.”

Burbank’s Varuzhan Bilbulyan (#5) had two goals in the Pacific League regular-season finale. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Arakelyan chimed in with five goals in the opening quarter as the Indians led 8-2.

Arakelyan’s goal from four feet with six minutes remaining made it 1-0 and Arakelyan’s 10-foot backhander with 4:39 left pushed the advantage to 2-1.

Another backhanded tally from Arakelyan, this time from five feet and 2:30 on the clock gave the Indians (12-12 and 5-1 in league) a 4-1 edge.

“We wanted to come in here after that tough loss against CV with really guns blazing,” Arakelyan said. “We wanted to come out really hard and fortunately my teammates got me the ball and I put it in the cage. I like creating space for myself to shoot the ball. Also they give me the perfect passes. Our starters click really well.”

The Indians set the tone early and never trailed against city rival Burbank. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Twenty-eight seconds later, Arakelyan’s five-foot rocket made it 5-1 and his six-foot blast with 1:24 on the clock pushed the lead to 6-2.

Senior driver Brandon Wilson scored both goals for the Bulldogs in the opening frame and finished with a match-best 16 goals.

“I didn’t expect it to be as high scoring, but it was definitely a fun game and I’m glad that even though we lost to Burroughs everybody had fun,” Burbank coach Allyson Young said. “I saw my players grow as a team and grow as individual players.”

Young said that she could ask for an at-large bid to compete in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Arakelyan was once again steady, tossing in five goals in the second frame as Burroughs shuffled ahead 13-8 at halftime.

David Arakelyan gets ready to shoot while Daniel Azarian defends. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

An eight-footer from Arakelyan with 5:40 left made it 9-3 and his 12-footer with 4:55 showing extended the margin to 10-4.

When Arakelyan found the back of the net from eight feet and 3:04 left before the half, the Indians dashed ahead 11-5.

Arakelyan’s 12-footer with 1:51 on the ticker made it 12-7 and his 20-footer with 57 seconds on the clock saw the Indians forge a 13-7 cushion.

“Both teams had fun,” Burroughs coach Jacob Cook said. “They were joking around and having fun.”

Wilson was the primary scorer in the second period for Burbank (7-11 and 1-5 in league for sixth place) after knocking in six goals and coming within 13-8 at the break.

Host Burbank put up a good fight against Burroughs, losing 27-21 on Wednesday. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

The Indians had a more balanced attack in the third quarter as Arakelyan and senior utility J.J. Ambartsumyan each drilled in two goals.

Wilson’s three goals in the third period helped the Bulldogs climb to within 20-14 heading into the final quarter.

Five players scored for Burroughs in the fourth quarter with Arakelyan and junior setter/defender Richard Legoretta each hammering in two goals.

Wilson contributed six scores in the final stanza, including tallies that enabled the Bulldogs to get within 20-16 on a 10-footer with 6:13 left and 24-17 on an eight-footer with 3:28 showing.

Wilson scored the final three goals of the match and four of the last six goals including an eight-footer with 2:21 left that sliced the lead to 25-18 and a five-footer with seven seconds remaining that made it 27-21.

Senior setter Marko Vucetic had four goals for the Indians, while junior driver Varuzhan Bilbulyan collected two tallies for the Bulldogs.

 

Burroughs, Burbank Boys Water Polo Ready For Action

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By Rick Assad
 
 
 
 

 

It’s going to get a little tougher for the Burroughs High boys’ water polo team this season after capturing the CIF Southern Section Division V championship in 2016.

Because of their successful campaign, the Indians were moved ahead to Division III this season so the road to the title is going to be slightly more difficult, but certainly still within reach.

The Burroughs boys’ water polo team is gunning for another successful season. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Burbank missed out on the playoffs, but despite this there are still expectations of making a strong run in that direction.

“We’re looking forward to having a good year and taking league,” Burroughs coach Jacob Cook said. “We lost only one player from last year, but I think that we’re getting an even better player.”

The Indians, who were 25-6 overall and 6-2 for second place behind Hoover in the Pacific League, are loaded with 13 seniors.

They include driver Nathan Anicich, utility J.J. Ambartsumyan, utility David Arakelyan, driver Manuel Esparza, setter Nathan Gault-Crabb, setter Brenner Goldsen and setter Sean Keane.

Burroughs Coach Jacob Cook saw the Indians win the CIF Southern Section Division V last season. They were moved up to Division III. (Photo by © Ross A. Benson)

The rest of the upperclassmen includes attacker Vahagn Saakyan, driver Scott Sauve, utility Arthur Sefayan, utility Marko Vucetic, driver Max Zekowski and setter Nicholas D’Agostaro.

The rest of the team includes junior goalie David Jimenez, junior attacker Simon Legoretta and junior attacker Eric Aperian.

The Indians opened their season with a 22-0 win over Jordan and will meet rival Burbank Oct. 18 on the road.

For Burbank Coach Allyson Young, a Burroughs graduate, her upperclassmen includes driver Daniel Azarian, goalie Jonathan Ragheb, goalie Rory Rickey, utility J.C. Angel, driver Ejmin Vartani and driver Brandon Wilson.

“We didn’t make the playoffs last year,” she said, “but this year we hope to do a lot better. All of my guys are working hard and working together.”

The other players are junior utility Harout Abrahamian, junior driver Varuzhan Bilbulyan, junior driver Arthur Gasparyan, junior driver Gevork Kvryan, junior driver George Sarkissov and sophomore goalie Sarkis Ter-Petrossyan, sophomore driver Kourosh Dolatshahi and sophomore driver Hakop Pilavjyan.

Burroughs, Burbank Boys’ Water Polo Looking to Make a Splash

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Young, but experienced is the best way to describe the Burroughs and Burbank High boys’ water polo teams as they enter the 2016 season.

Both teams figure to face tough competition in the Pacific League as Crescenta Valley and Hoover are deep.

Burroughs

Burroughs coach Jacob Cook has reason to be optimistic. Last season the Indians went 13-12 overall. His two leading scorers from a year ago return from a team that finished third in the Pacific League and lost 14-12 to Santa Monica in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs. Burroughs defeated Atascadero in a wild-card playoff match.

Junior Marko Vucetich scored 73 goals as a sophomore and was a first-team All-Pacific League pick. He also spent the summer training in Serbia, the nation that won the gold medal in water polo in the recent Olympics.

(Photo by © Ross A. Benson)

(Photo by © Ross A. Benson)

Davo Arakelyan, a second-team all-league pick last season, is also a junior.

“We have 18 guys and we didn’t lose any of our major talent (from last season),” Cook said. “We’re looking forward to a good year. We’re trying to go as far as we can in CIF. Our expectations are high.

Senior Jerry Solano, a set defender, is the team captain.

“He shows a lot of leadership skills,” Cook said. “He keeps the team focused.”

Sophomore Eric Aperian, a left-hander, has shown lots of promise.

Junior David Jimenez figures to be the starting goalie.

Senior LJ Burns is expected to be another key player for Burroughs.

Filling out the rest of the Burroughs roster are seniors Jeremy Acosta, Nathan Armstrong, Cameron Flosi, Gevo Hagopian and Aram Nordanyan. The remaining juniors on the team consist of JJ Ambartsum, Nathan Anicich, Nicholas D’Agostaro, Manny Esparza, Brenner Goldsen, Scott Sauve, Max Zekowski. Sophomores Andre Abranyan and Simon Kharazyan round out the team.

 

Burbank

The Bulldogs were 4-13 overall, 2-5 in league last season.

Five players return from last season.

One of those is senior goalie Peter Youssef.

Burbank also returns senior Alex Airapetyan, juniors Brandon Wilson, Daniel Azarian and Andrew Senane.

New to the team are seniors Gevork Mailyan and Misak Voskanyan, junior Alex Banjarjyan and sophomores Varuzhan Bibulyan, Artush Gasparyan and George Sarkissov.

“I can already see the change in this year’s team compared to last year,” second-year coach Allyson Young said. “These boys are working together and helping each other out in the pool. It’s great to see that the boys are there for each other in the water. This is a very young team. We are building the team up to be able to accomplish anything that they want to in the sport. Hopefully these boys continue to work together and this season can go as planned.”