Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy girls' soccer: Just as no team equaled its unprecedented success during the 2010-11 season, no group of area high school athletes epitomized the concept of "team" better than the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy soccer team.
"The way our team was structured, it was always team first," senior midfielder Alyssa Conti said. "We did so much stuff outside of soccer itself to really build team bonding and make sure we were there for each other on and off the field.
"We do it for each other, it wasn't an individual thing."
In addition to stellar talent, teamwork and unity led the Tologs to the greatest season in program history, highlighted by a 23-2-1 record, championships in the Mission League and CIF Southern Section Division I – the latter their first ever and the first in area history – and a runner-up finish in the CIF Southern California Division III Regional championships.
"Getting three months distance on it makes me appreciate even more the magnitude of what it is the kids accomplished," Tologs co-Coach Frank Pace said. "To go in and beat the teams we beat, mostly on their field, really is an amazing accomplishment. There's nothing subjective about what we did. …You just look at the scoreboard and see the scores. Nothing was given to us. Everything that we accomplished we earned this season."
After getting as far as the Division II quarterfinals last season, the Tologs refused to be beaten in the section playoffs, blasting past Tesoro, 3-1, in the quarters before besting Esperanza, 1-0, on the road in overtime on March 1 en route to the championship game against San Clemente at Mission Viejo High on March 4.
The Tologs' vaunted defense shut out the Tartans and claimed the Division I crown with a clutch goal from Krista Meaglia in the 69th minute for yet another thrilling 1-0 win.
"For a small school from the Valley, not from Orange County, it's definitely not expected," co-Coach Kathy Desmond said. "Everybody had the same goal in mind - Mission League, CIF, state. We got two out of three."
Individual heroics frequently stood out as the most memorable moments of the campaign, and a different star seemed to steal the show on a nightly basis - from Conti's game-winning goal in overtime of the sectional semifinal to Meaglia's dagger against San Clemente - but every moment of singular glory was made possible by 80 minutes of solid team soccer.
"The biggest key of our team is that we all like each other," junior forward Breanna Koemans said. "None of us had had any issues with each other; we were all friends on and off the field.
"We really love playing for each other, not just with each other."
Crescenta Valley High boys' swimming: The Falcons were a team built not just to win meets, but to win every individual event therein, which they often did during an undefeated regular dual-meet season that ended in the program's 19th Pacific League title in a row.
As their dynastic status in league and past CIF credentials would indicate, the Falcons are certainly accustomed to fielding talented, winning teams, but this year's incarnation will stand as one of CV's most talent-laden of all time.
Spearheaded by the terrific trio of sophomores Young Tae Seo, Harrison Thai and junior Louis Wojciechowski and bolstered by considerable depth, veteran Coach Jan Sakonju had myriad tools at his disposal to formulate winning lineups.
The squad needed just one afternoon to rewrite the majority of the league record book at the league final meet at Burbank High on May 5, with its big three claiming a pair of individual marks apiece and the team breaking a total of seven.
The team placed third in the CIF Division II finals on May 14 at Belmont plaza pool in Long Beach, where Seo added two more titles to his personal collection in CIF-record fashion, Wojciechowski won his first CIF title and the Falcons claimed the 200-medley relay championship in record time.
Crescenta Valley was back at Belmont in force with eight swimmers in nine events at the CIF Masters meet three days later, where Seo capped his season with two more titles, as the Falcons claimed a total of three.
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