PHOTOS: Woodbridge High School’s scholar athletes honored in virtual ceremony

Woodbridge’s basketball player Erika Maggard was one of the school’s scholar athletes. (File photo courtesy Woodbridge basketball)

Scholar athletes in the Pacific Coast League, including those at Woodbridge High School, 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.

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

Jayla Land

Erika Maggard

Colleen McCarty

Sara Oldham

Riley Pittman

Owen Manchester

Ben Montplaisir

Jakob Trestik

Brielle Higa

William Talbert

OC Sports Zone is running recognition of the scholar athletes. Woodbridge’s top scholar athletes were Jayla Land and Riley Pittman. Here are the profiles of the scholar athletes with descriptions from co-athletic directors Rick Gibson and Matt Campbell.

JAYLA LAND: Jayla Land participated in varsity soccer and track and field for four years, qualifying for CIF in both. She was all-league for the 800 meters and 1,600 meters in track and field. She has captained the varsity soccer team since her sophomore year and has been awarded with all-league honors all four years, along with team MVP twice, and PCL MVP her senior season. She was awarded All Southern Section, after Jayla and her team made it to the quarterfinals of CIF. Woodbridge won the Pacific Coast League title for the first time in more than 10 years. She has played club soccer at Slammers FC where she captained her team for an additional four years. Jayla is committed to play division one college soccer in the PAC 12 conference at Washington State University in the fall, and plans to study sports medicine. 

ERIKA MAGGARD: Erika Maggard has played on the varsity girls basketball team all four years and has participated in the CIF playoffs each year. She was a part of the starting lineup since her freshman year where she was recognized as a PCL second team all-league player followed by first team all-league honors her sophomore and junior years. Erika was a team captain and reached a 1,000-point benchmark as a Warrior. In her senior year, Erika surpassed 1,700 career points making her one of the highest scoring players in Woodbridge basketball history. This year she was selected as the league MVP, made the All-Orange County teams list for a second year and was asked to represent Woodbridge in the Orange County all-star game. Erika began her journey in basketball in SEYO Basketball and several club teams including Fusion, Irvine Flames and OC Rhythm Basketball. Erika participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Yell Crew and the Senior Homecoming Skit. She is active in her church and is a youth leader. She will continue playing basketball at the Division II level at Concordia University and will begin studying Kinesiology in the fall. 

COLLEEN MCCARTY: Colleen McCarty has played for the girls lacrosse team all four years, earning a varsity letter each year. She was a starting defender each year, and led the defense as captain her senior year. She was named honorable mention all-county as well as first team all-league in her junior season. She also earned the coach’s award during her sophomore season. Colleen also developed her game outside of Woodbridge at OC United Club Lacrosse, where she played with girls all across Southern California. Outside of Lacrosse, Colleen was involved with various clubs, like Junior Classical League, which she served as the President for her senior Year. She also served as the Clubs Commissioner on ASB this year. She maintained a 4.25 GPA throughout high school, and will be attending the University of Wisconsin to study political science next year. 

SARA OLDHAM: Sara Oldham played on varsity lacrosse in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and varsity team captain in 2020 when the team went undefeated. She was awarded Woodbridge High School lacrosse MVP 2019, Pacific League Goalie of the Year 2019, and second team all-county goalie in 2019. Sara holds two of the school’s top five performances for saves in a game including the school record of 23 saves with a game save percentage of .767. She set the school record for overall save percentage in a season (0.589) in 2019 and had another record-breaking season in progress with a save percentage of 0.602 in 2020 before the season was cut short. Sara also holds the school record for save percentage over a career. She was on pace to set the school record for interceptions in a career before her senior season cut short. 

RILEY PITTMAN: Riley Pittman has earned eight varsity letters in water polo and swimming. He was a captain for the swim team and competed in CIF twice. Riley was the captain of the water polo team senior year and helped the team win its first ever league title in the 2018 season and again in the 2019 season. In the PCL, he earned the title of league MVP in 2018 and 2019, as well as the second team all-league in 2016 and first team in 2017. In CIF, Riley was awarded 2017 first team All CIF Division 3, 2018 second team All CIF Division 2, and 2019 first team All CIF Division 2. Riley played with the SoCal Water Polo each year in high school. In 2018, Riley helped his club team win first place in the 16-and-under division in Junior Olympics and he won MVP of the tournament as well. For USA Water Polo, Riley has been a member of the 2017 Cadet National Team and the 2019 Youth National Team. He has traveled to Serbia and Trinidad and Tobago and won gold medals in both of the international tournaments. Riley has earned the scholar athlete award each semester in high school and his cumulative GPA is 4.3. Riley also served as the ASB Secretary his senior year and was the president of the club Warrior Nation as well. Riley will be continuing his studies and water polo career at Stanford this fall. 

OWEN MANCHESTER: Owen Manchester earned four varsity letters for all four years of varsity golf. He participated in the CIF post season three times. He earned first team all-league in his sophomore year, and league MVP in his junior year. He was captain of the team his senior year, until the season was cancelled. Owen first started playing golf when he was eight years old, and over time he found a passion for it. He quit the other sports he was playing to focus on golf when he was 12, and since then has progressed up the junior and high school ranks. Owen had a 3.81 GPA and will be playing golf at the University of Delaware, where he is planning to study history. 

BEN MONTPLAISIR: Ben Montplaisir is a four-year varsity volleyball athlete from Woodbridge High School. He received second and first team all league his sophomore and junior season respectively. Ben helped to lead the Woodbridge team to the semifinals in CIF last year. He plays on the OCVC club team where he first started playing volleyball in eighth grade. Ben has been the captain of both his high school and club teams the past two years. Ben looks forward to attending Loyola Chicago University in the fall where he will also play volleyball. 

JAKOB TRESTIK: Jakob Trestik earned eight varsity letters in football, soccer and baseball, and participated in CIF post season four times. Jakob developed his love for baseball and soccer at Irvine Colts (three years) and Strikers FC (five years) respectively. In football, Jakob has been awarded second team all-league as a junior and first team all-league senior year as well as third team All-Orange County as a senior. In soccer, Jakob has been awarded second team-all league as a senior. Jakob maintained a 3.9 GPA during high school, and will attend Lafayette College this fall to study electrical and computer engineering and play football. 

Woodbridge’s sportsmanship winners were Brielle Higa and William Talbert.