The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Local tracksters in top form at relays

By Mike Barnhart

High school track and field athletes have been off and running for about a month, with yet another month of dual meets and invitationals to prepare for the championship season in May.

But junior Sarah Engle and senior Jaraad Mamoon of Homestead and junior Elise Leung of Monta Vista seemed to be in top form at the West Valley Relays, March 24 in Saratoga.

A few other local competitors came up big at the Central Coast Section Frosh-Soph Track and Field Classic last Friday night.

Engle, a Homestead junior, won the girls pole vault at West Valley at 11-2. A week earlier she scaled a personal best 11-6 in the St. Francis Invitational, fourth best in the CCS among girl vaulters. Engle also placed fifth in the high jump (5-0) and seventh in the 100-meter hurdles (16.9) at West Valley, marks that rank among the top 20 in each event.

Leung won the girls long jump at West Valley, bounding 16-9, the section's seventh best effort this year. Leung's best triple jump effort of the season--35-1 for third place at the St. Francis invite--rated eighth in the CCS.

Cupertino junior Stephanie Glick finished fifth in the triple jump and 11th in the long jump at West Valley. She posted her best efforts, 35-4 in the triple jump (sixth in CCS) and 16-2 (11th), during a dual meet at Saratoga.

Homestead sophomore Emily Evans was 12th in the 800 at West Valley in 2:25.88. Earlier in the season, Evans ran 2:19.37, the seventh best time in the CCS. Evans also ranks seventh in the 1,600 and ninth in the 300 hurdles. Teammate Shelby Matsuoka has cleared 5-2 in the high jump. As of March 27, only three girls in the entire CCS had done better.

On the boys side at the West Valley competition, Mamoon earned second place by heaving the shot put 50-2, an effort ranked ninth in the CCS. He also took fifth in the discus, hurling the platter 131-10.

Two other Mustangs, junior Austin Lopez and senior Pora Paea, placed 10th at West Valley, Lopez in the shot (42-7) and Paea in the discus (124-7). Lopez finished 12th in the discus with 123-6.

Lynbrook junior Eric Suprenant was third in the 400 intermediate hurdles in 58.47. Senior teammate Sameer Thadani dashed 11.58 for ninth in the 100.

In the frosh-soph boys division at West Valley, freshman Chris Chui of Monta Vista placed second in the 65-meter high hurdles, and sophomore teammate Chris Knight took second in the 400 intermediate hurdles. Cupertino freshman Ryo Kubozono placed fourth in the intermediates and seventh in the highs. Chui was sixth in the intermediates.

At the Frosh-Soph Top 8 meet March 30 at Los Gatos High, freshman sprinter Natasha Sakellar of Monta Vista and freshman thrower Michelle Chung of Cupertino turned in outstanding performances.

Sakellar won the 400 in 58.65, the fifth fastest time in the CCS this year, and placed second in the 200 in 26.29, another top-10 mark. Chung won the shot competition at 33-2.5 and placed third in the discus at 96-1. Her best marks of the season, 34-7.5 and 104-11, both ranked eighth among the CCS bests.

Another Cupertino freshman, Katie Boyle, ran 48.69 for second in the 300 low hurdles. It was the sixth fastest time clocked this season.

Monta Vista sophomore Anita Crumlin was fourth in the 100 meters, clocking 13.0, a top-20 time. Alissa Hayes, a Homestead freshman, cleared 5-0 for a share of third place in that event. Lynbrook freshman Kristen Bryson placed seventh in the 3,200.

In dual meets last week, Cupertino swept its El Camino Division meet with Homestead, while Monta Vista split its De Anza affair with Palo Alto.

Cupertino's boys edged the Mustangs 68-58 and the girls won 81-37.

Abiy Gebrekristos (mile, 2-mile) was the only double winner for the Pioneers. Mrinal Bedi (880 yards), Roger Hu (440), Kubozono (330 hurdles) and Harlan Huynh (shot put) all contributed to the Cupertino win.

Kevin Quock and Stanley Szeto were double winners for Homestead, Quock sweeping the horizontal jumps and Szeto the short sprints. Dale Ishizaki won the high hurdles for the Mustangs and Paea claimed the discus throw.

Junior Melissa Gomez was first in the 880 and mile for the Cupertino girls. Other double winners were Glick, Boyle and Chung for the Pioneers. Sumika Shiokawa won the 2-mile and Abigail Wong, Kristin Wong, Gomez and Boyle teamed to win the mile relay.

Jennifer Garnett (440), Aubreanna Bobb (200), Kaylin Crump (100) and Engle (high jump) were winners for Homestead.

Although Monta Vista's boys lost at Palo Alto 104-22, senior Simon Bill ran 1:57.8 to win the 800 meters and Michael Laccabue won the 1,600 in 4:42.9. Bill's run was the fifth fastest two-lapper in the CCS this year.

Bill also owns the section's fifth best time in the boys 1,600. He clocked 4:27.54 while winning at a dual meet with Los Gatos.

Leung was a double winner for the Matadors in the horizontal jumps and senior Marissa Mindelar won the 100 and 200 with CCS top-five times of 12.1 and 25.9. Helena Montin cleared 5-0 to win the high jump, and Jean Feng (1,600), Lisa Worsham (3,200) and Angela Hsu (800) took care of the distance events for the Mats.

Badminton

Led by defending CCS girls singles champion Connie Hwang, Lynbrook's badminton team ran its De Anza Division record to 6-1 with a 26-4 blitz of Wilcox.

Hwang, a junior, gave up just one point in her No. 1 singles match, a 15-0, 15-1 decision. Sophomore Boyang Wang won the No. 1 boys singles contest, 15-5, 15-9.

Senior William Tang and freshman Felicia Soehartono both won No. 1 singles matches, leading Homestead to an 18-12 win at Mountain View.

It was the second El Camino Division road win of the week for the Mustangs, who finished the first round of division play with a 5-1 record.

Earlier in the week, sophomore Terrence Pang won the No. 1 boys singles match to pace a 16-14 triumph over Los Altos.

Golf

Monta Vista was a double winner in El Camino golf play, nipping Saratoga by one stroke 202-203 and beating Santa Clara by 28 strokes at the par-34 Saratoga Country Club. Phil Lee of Monta Vista shot 38 over nine holes.

Homestead's golfers usually are led by junior Sean Denny, who was the medalist during his team's one-stroke loss against Cupertino, March 28 at Sunnyvale Muni. Despite Denny's 38, Cupertino was able to win its third De Anza Division match of the year, 216-217.

The Pioneers' top golfer, David Yoo, was the medalist two days earlier in a 194-198 loss to Lynbrook. Yoo shot a 34 at the par-30 Deep Cliff Golf Course.