PHOTOS: Irvine High’s scholar athletes honored in virtual ceremony

Ryan Barlow of Irvine delivers a pitch in March 2019. (File photo: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

Scholar athletes in the Pacific Coast League, including those at Irvine High, were honored in a virtual ceremony.

The program is held annually at an Irvine high school, but this year had to go to a virtual format because of the coronavirus pandemic.

OC Sports Zone is running recognition of the scholar athletes by each school, including Irvine High School. One of Irvine’s athletic directors, Gabriel Cota, said that Jessica Domingo was the female athlete of the year and Mark O’Hannigan the male athlete of the year. Comments by athletic directors Gabriel Cota, Travis Haynes and Kris Klamberg are included in the profiles.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

Jessica Domingo

Candace An

Sabrina Lomri

Chloe McVicar

Ashlee Park

Mark O'Hannigan

Ryan Barlow

Lucas Graham

Will Nomura

Daniel Wei

Haley Tran

Gregory Codilian

JESSICA DOMINGO: Jessica Domingo has been out front representing girls wrestling for Irvine High the last four years, developing into a very skilled wrestler. Last year Jessica finished third in the CIF regional tournament, competing in the CIF final tournament prior to the girls state meet. This season, the PCL hosted its first girls only league final tournament in conjunction with the boys PCL. Jessica finished as a PCL champion, MVP for girls Irvine High School wrestling and a Hall of Famer.

CANDANCE AN: Candace An was a three-year starter and made second team all league in 2018, 2019, 2020. She was the only Irvine qualifier this year to go into CIF. She showed wonderful leadership for the program and was voted by the players as most outstanding and coaches Award. Candace is also a lead editor on Irvine High’s El Vaquero, the state champion school newspaper. 

SABRINA LOMRI: Sabrina has only been playing basketball for four years. She worked hard every day to become the best student-athlete she could be. This year the hard work resulted in her being captain of the team. She also was named to the first team all-league squad. In addition to being a leader on the court, Sabrina is also co-captain of her lacrosse team and has earned a 3.7 GPA over her high school career enjoying advanced journalism and British literature. Next year, Sabrina will be attending and playing basketball at Fullerton College. 

CHLOE MACVICAR: Chloe has been swimming competitively since she was six years old, and continued in high school with three years on varsity. Her main events were the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. In her freshman year she started playing water polo and played all four years with one year starting varsity. She was also one of the co-captains this year for both the water polo and swim teams. While Chloe started out as a swimmer, water polo is what she enjoyed most and her love for the sport inspired her to play in college as well. Other than athletics, Chloe was a member of marching band, Wind Symphony, and Jazz throughout my whole high school career, including being both a section leader and drum major for marching band. Since she was in athletics and performing arts, it was sometimes hard to balance the two but she was passionate about both so it was worth the time commitment for her. Next year Chloe will be at University of Toronto in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, studying Environmental Studies as well as playing water polo for the university’s Varsity Blues. 

ASHLEE PARK: As the head coach, I was proud to have Ashlee leading the program because future captains will follow her lead in advancing the program. Team chemistry is the most important part of a team, and Ashlee established that for our team. She valued all players for their abilities and as individuals. Ashlee performed beyond our expectations by supporting her team- mates outside the field with school and personal problems. To add to her accomplishments Ashlee played the most minutes this season with a total of 1,410 minutes. As a captain, she led the varsity team to win the Westminster Classic Tournament. Ashlee was also awarded varsity’s MVP and PCL first team with seven goals and five assist this season. The team set a program single-season record of 3-5-2 in league and 9-5-6 overall. Ashlee’s leadership in the past years has improved the program’s chemistry, increasing all-around player’s commitment and expectations. 

MARK O’HANNIGAN: Mark had two spectacular seasons prior to his senior year.  In the 10th grade, he was the Irvine Invitational varsity 800-meter champion and placed fifth in the Orange County Championships in the varsity 800-meter event.  Mark was the league runner-up in 800-meters and a CIF qualifier

As a junior, Mark was again the Irvine Invitational varsity 800-meter champion and improved to fourth place in the OC Championships in the 800-meter. Mark was also the league champion in 800-meters and a member of the league champion 400-meter relay team.  He placed seventh in Division 2 CIF earning All-CIF honors and was in the top fivc percent of all 11th graders in the United States.

RYAN BARLOW: Ryan Barlow was one of the biggest reasons Irvine’s baseball tean went 19-9 last year, finished in second place and went to the quarterfinal round of the CIF playoffs for the first time since 2001. Ryan’s season last year earned him second team All-CIF honors and first team all-league in the PCL. His career numbers include 135 1/3 innings pitched, 2.80 ERA, 87 strikeouts, 10 wins and 30 games pitched. Although his season was cut short he was on track to have a tremendous year having started out with two wins and .808 ERA. On top of what he has accomplished on the field he was an even better leader off of it. Ryan was a huge piece to the turnaround Irvine High School had and he will not be easily replaced. 

LUCAS GRAHAM: In his time at Irvine High School, Lucas Graham played as a lineman on the football team and a thrower in track and field since his freshman year. His favorite subjects are history, English, French, and Economics. Lucas really enjoys weightlifting, studying French, reading, and playing bass guitar in his free time. His plans for the coming year are to attend California State University, Fullerton and to study business administration and international business. Lucas would also like to study abroad in France or Sweden and continue mastering the French language. 

WILL NOMURA: Will Nomura was an Elite Water polo player and swimmer. He’s a three year varsity polo player and a three year varsity swimmer. Will was second team all-league as a sophomore, first team all-league as a junior. Will led the team in goals with 131, which breaks down to over five per game as a senior and had 43 drawn ejections this year. As a swimmer, Will Nomura has achieved CIF individual time standards in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle as a junior and would have surpassed those times and added more events this senior swim season. He is well respected among his teachers and teammates. Academically, Will has above a 3.5 GPA. Will is attending the UC Davis in the fall and will continue to play water polo. 

DANIEL WEI: Daniel Wei is a four year starter on the varsity tennis team and has played at the No. 1 singles for three years, and was also the team co-captain. During Daniel’s junior year, he was first team PCL all-league, league individual singles champion, and earned his way to the CIF-SS quarter-finals, Daniel also made second team all league as a sophomore. Before the abrupt end to the season, Daniel was one of the favorites to win the PCL singles title again. Daniel played on the varsity soccer team during his senior year, and he is also a highly accomplished musician in the orchestra. Daniel Wei currently has a 3.8 GPA and will play tennis and serve his country at the Air Force Academy next year majoring in Computer Science or Cybersecurity. 

Irvine’s sportsmanship winners were Haley Tran and Gregory Cordilian.