Setting High Standards

Scott Vegas and Jenna McCallister Are This Spring’s Post Cup Award Winners

Scott Vegas has plenty in common with Jenna McCallister. Both play volleyball. Both are setters. Both live a short walk from campus. Both led their team to the City Section title. And last but not least, they are this year’s Palisadian-Post Cup Award winners as the outstanding senior athletes at Palisades High. “I was shocked,” said McCallister, who, along with Vegas, was honored at last Thursday’s Senior Awards Night in Mercer Hall. “I knew I’d probably get something but I wasn’t expecting this.” The Post Cup, presented to the Dolphins’ top athletes every year since the school opened in 1961, is merely the latest in a long list of accolades for this year’s winners, both of whom were chosen Player of the Year in the City Section. McCallister played a pivotal role in Palisades’ winning the girls’ title in November. Like all quality setters, she was the “quarterback” of the offense. Her ability to spread the ball around and make her teammates better did not go unnoticed by Coach Chris Forrest. “It was amazing to coach Jenna because whatever I coached her to do she would execute perfectly and successfully,” he said. “Jenna will succeed greatly at the next level and is going to bring a lot to the game. I wish her the best and know she will do well.” Winning the City title was important to McCallister, whose older sister Kaylie played on Palisades’ last section winning team in 2003. “There was a lot of pressure on us this season–we had to win,” Jenna said. “I didn’t want to go all four years without winning one and this was my last chance.” She cited leadership as the key ingredient to the Dolphins’ championship mixture last fall. “We had talent but definitely without the seniors it would’ve fallen apart,” McCallister said. “I enjoyed the fellowship with all the girls but it was my responsibility, along with Teal [Johnson] and Alex [Lunder], to hold the team together.” Asked to name her favorite class at Palisades High, McCallister answered: “AP Biology with Ms. Benke my junior year because I knew a lot of people in that class.” McCallister, who resides on Haverford, was a soccer player before taking up volleyball in fifth grade. She went to elementary school at Calvary Christian before switching to Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica for grades 6-8. After four years with Sports Shack she played on Gene Selznick’s 18-1s club team along with Pali teammates Lunder and Tait Johnson. “It’s been fun growing up here in the Palisades,” McCallister said. “Summer days at Bel Air Bay Club, watching the fireworks on the Fourth of July, going swimming with my friends. There’s always stuff to do.” Another thing McCallister has in common with her fellow Post Cup winner is being named to the Los Angeles Volleyball Coaches Association’s All-City Academic Team two years in a row. “Both are great players and great leaders,” said Forrest, who coaches Palisades’ boys and girls teams. “I know one thing’neither team would’ve won City without them on the floor.” A multi-sport athlete at Marquez Elementary, Vegas excelled at baseball, basketball and soccer before giving volleyball a try in eighth grade at Paul Revere Middle School. He’s played it ever since, even earning Most Valuable Player honors in the Junior Olympics as a member of Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club’s 17-1s squad. What Vegas will remember most about his senior season is overcoming a seven-point deficit in the fourth game of last month’s City finals at Cal State Northridge, when the Dolphins dug deep to beat El Camino Real in five games. “We hadn’t won [City] in 10 years and we’d fought so hard for that perfect record,” Vegas said. “It was important to show that our program is still strong. When I saw that last serve fly out of bounds I just breathed a sigh of relief.” Vegas appreciates the life lessons that volleyball–and setting in particular–has taught him. “There’s a lot of responsibility on your shoulders but I’ve learned how to be a leader,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure at times but if you make a mistake you have to be able to forget it and move on to the next point.” Vegas, who lives on Temecula, said the best course he took at Palisades High was Mr. Lee’s U.S. history class in 11th grade. As for college? “I’m still undecided on a major,” he said. According to Forrest, Vegas’ ability to learn quickly was one reason Palisades’ boys won the City title this spring. “Scott grew tremendously as a player and leader on and off the court,” he said. “He would listen and apply what was taught to him and his success was proven through his play and results.” Vegas and McCallister can look back on their high school accomplishments with pride and look forward to bright futures’Vegas at UCLA and McCallister at Wheaton College in Illinois. ‘Going into my senior year I went to a UCLA volleyball camp and that’s where [Coach Al Scates] took notice of me,’ Vegas said. ‘They offered me a scholarship before I started my applications so that made my decision easier, too.’ Transitioning from a prep powerhouse like Palisades to a national power like UCLA might seem like a daunting task but Vegas is ready for the challenge. Forrest is also confident that the Dolphins’ ‘Mr. Clutch’ can be a force in the Pac-10. “Scott still has an unlimited amount of potential and will continue to grow as a player,” he said. “Give him one year at the next level and you can expect him to shine at UCLA.” Vegas and McCallister can look back on their high school accomplishments with pride and look forward to bright futures’Vegas at UCLA and McCallister at Wheaton College in Illinois. “Going into my senior year I went to a UCLA volleyball camp and that’s where [Coach Al Scates] took notice of me,” Vegas said. “They offered me a scholarship before I started my applications so that made my decision easier, too.” Transitioning from a prep powerhouse like Palisades to a national power like UCLA might seem like a daunting task but Vegas is ready for the challenge. Forrest is also confident that the Dolphins’ “Mr. Clutch” can be a force in the Pac-10. “Scott still has an unlimited amount of potential and will continue to grow as a player,” he said. “Give him one year at the next level and you can expect him to shine at UCLA.” Vegas said he will redshirt his first year but his objective is clear: “I’m ready to start playing again and my goal is to eventually get on that court [at Pauley Pavilion] and play.” Meanwhile, McCallister chose Wheaton because it is strong in her major yet still has a competitive volleyball program. “I didn’t want to play Division I because it’s a little too intense,” she admitted. “But they have a pretty successful team and they have a great kinesiology department. I want to be a physical therapist.” For both Post Cup winners, tonight’s graduation marks the end of one chapter in their lives and the beginning of a new one. “I was thinking about that in class this morning,” McCallister said Monday. “That these are the last 15 minutes of my high school career. What I’ll miss the most is hanging out with my classmates and friends.”