The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Matadors make a big splash over spring break

By Mike Barnhart

Monta Vista swimmers Audrey Kwong and Megan Fisher-Colbrie closed out their spring break with a big splash last Saturday at Palo Alto High School.

The talented sophomores both won events and led the Matadors to second place in the girls portion of the CCS/NCS Challenge, an event featuring top teams from the Central Coast Section and the North Coast Section. Kwong claimed first in the 200-yard freestyle and second in the 500 free, while Fischer-Colbrie captured the 200 individual medley and grabbed third in the 100 butterfly.

Monta Vista, Palo Alto and St. Ignatius were the girls teams representing the CCS against squads from Campolindo of Moraga, Carondelet of Concord and Miramonte of Orinda. Campolindo won the girls team title with 268 points, 60 more than Monta Vista. Palo Alto placed fifth with 190.

Kwong swam 1:56.58 in the 200 free, beating Campolindo standout Shelbi Luchini by .24. Luchini later edged Kwong (5:12.53) in the 500 by just two-hundredths of a second. After winning the IM in 2:10.44, more than two seconds faster than her closest rival, Fisher-Colbrie bolted 59.15 in the fly.

The Matadors won the 400-yard free relay in 3:37.60. Chelsea Fong, who placed second in the 100 free (53.31) and third in the 50 free (24.82), started the relay. She was followed by Megan Leung, Kwong and Fisher-Colbrie.

Bellarmine won the eight-team boys competition with 273.5 points. Palo Alto was third with 191 and Monta Vista took eighth with 79 points. Other CCS teams were Sacred Heart Prep, St. Ignatius and Serra. Campolindo and Miramonte represented the NCS.

Arthur Lam was the only Monta Vista athlete to place in the top three of an event. He took third in the 200 free with a time of 1:47.18.

The Matadors return to Santa Clara Valley Athletic League action on April 26, wrapping up their De Anza Division dual meet season by hosting Saratoga and Gunn in a triangular meet at Monta Vista. The first event begins at 3:30 p.m.

In their most recent division meet, April 12 against visiting Palo Alto, Monta Vista's undefeated girls (4-0) handed Palo Alto (3-1) its first loss, 100-85. Meanwhile, Monta Vista's boys lost to unbeaten Palo Alto, 124-61.

Just like in Saturday's invitational, Kwong was a winner in the girls 200 and 500 freestyle races and Fischer-Colbrie touched first in the 100 fly. Emma Drysdale (50 free) and Vivian Yuen (100 breaststroke) also were individual winners.

The Mats won both freestyle relay races. Drysdale, Mao Ueno, Fong and Kwong teamed to take the 200 in a CCS-best time of 1:41.32. Drysdale, Kwong, Fong and Fisher-Colbrie combined in the 400.

Montin 2nd in Top 8

Nobody jumped higher than Monta Vista high jumper Helena Montin during the girls competition at the 28th Central Coast Top 8 Track and Field Classic last Friday night at Los Gatos High.

But two other athletes, including practice partner Kierston Dolbec of Saratoga, did jump as high as Montin. And, because Aptos junior Janelle Coulter needed fewer attempts to negotiate the various heights during the contest, the Matador junior had to settle for second place. Dolbec was third.

After all three girls cleared 5-3, then missed on three tries at 5-5, Coulter was declared the winner. The 5-3 mark was a personal best for Montin, who joins Dolbec for regular workouts under the tutelage of Saratoga coach Darrin Garcia.

Aptos won the team title with 46 points. Milpitas was second with 43, two ahead of Los Altos. Mitty, led by Renisha Robinson's win in the 800 meters, scored 33 points, just 1.5 ahead of fifth-place Los Gatos. Monta Vista and Leland shared sixth place with 27 points.

Junior jumpers Elise Leung of Monta Vista and Stephanie Glick of Cupertino both fared well in the horizontal jumps. Leung was third in both, bounding 35-5.5 in the triple jump and 16-9 in the long jump, while Glick took fifth in the long jump with 16-5 and second in the triple jump with 35-6.

Senior Marissa Minderler, a transfer from Mitty, placed fifth in both sprints. Her times 12.62 in the 100 and the 25.80 in the 200 both were PRs. Minderler, Leung and freshman Natasha Sakellar ran on both Monta Vista relays, helping notch sixth place in the 400 with 50.55 and eighth in the 1,600 with a season-best 4:10.06.

Sakellar placed fifth in the 400 in 58.67, then came back to run 26.58 for 11th in the 200.

In the 1,600, senior Angela Hsu (5:14.22) placed 10th and sophomore Jean Feng (5:14.81) took 13th for the Matadors, running personal best times. Homestead sophomore Emily Evans finished 14th in 5:17.31.

Homestead junior Sarah Engle scaled a personal best 11-6 in the pole vault, earning fourth place. She also won her heat of the 100 hurdles and placed fifth overall with 16.31.

Cupertino's Sumika Shiokawa improved her 3,200 time by nearly 20 seconds, as she placed 11th with 11:21.69. Feng (11:25.09) placed 12th and senior Lisa Worsham (11:56) took 17th the race.

Cupertino freshman Michelle Chung placed seventh in the shot put with 34-5 and 10th in the discus with 93-4.

Freshman Katie Boyle had a busy weekend for the Pioneers. After placing 12th in the 300 hurdles (49.29) at the Top 8 meet, she captured first place (49.89) in a similar event for frosh-soph girls the next day at the Ed Kearney Invitational at Salinas' Hartnell College. Boyle also scored thirds in the 100 hurdles and the 400 and fifth in the 200.

Bellarmine captured first place in the boys division with 87 points. Los Gatos was second with 54, five ahead of third-place Evergreen Valley.

Lynbrook senior Sameer Thadani ran 23.06 to place fifth in the 200 meters. Earlier, his 11.36 dash in the 100 claimed second in his heat and sixth overall. Junior teammate Eric Suprenant ran 16.12 and placed seventh in the 110 high hurdles.

Mitty won the frosh-soph boys team title with 81 points. Homestead was eighth with 17 and Monta Vista tied for 12th with 14.

Lynbrook freshman Luca Signore was fifth in the frosh-soph 1,600 with a PR of 4:36.84.

In the 800, Lynbrook sophomore Gene Burinskiy was fifth in 2:06.83 and Monta Vista's Peter Feng was 10th in 2:07.7. Monta Vista's Matias Corvalan placed sixth in the 400 in 53.94 and teammate Jonathan Chow (10.21) took third in the 65 hurdles.

Matadors William Yuan, Feng, Akhil Raju and Corvalan combined to place second in the frosh-soph 1,600 relay in 3:36.72.

In the frosh-soph throwing events, Homestead sophomores Luke Rosener and Michael Bernal posted PRs in the discus and shot put. Rosener placed second in the discus with an effort of 119-6 and Bernal was fifth with 112-4. In the shot put, Rosener placed third with 37-9.5 and Bernal took sixth with 42-2.5.

Homestead streak ends

After going nine days without playing a match, the Homestead boys volleyball team got back into the swing of things at the 16-team Los Gatos Invitational, then ran into a buzzsaw.

The Mustangs extended their victory streak to 25 with tournament wins over Serra, San Lorenzo Valley, Los Gatos and Valley Christian, but lost to Granite Bay in the semifinals. The day's results left Homestead with a season record of 30-3.

Homestead took a 12-0 league record into an SCVAL match at Monta Vista on April 24. The Mustangs needed a win against the Mats, plus victories in their final three matches, to finish league play undefeated for the second season in a row.

The toughest of the three upcoming matches might be the last one, May 3 against visiting Mountain View (11-2). But before they tangle with the Spartans, they need to get past a home match against Santa Clara on April 26 and a road match May 1 at Saratoga. All of the matches are set to begin at 5:45 p.m.