The Cupertino Courier
Sports
Mustangs run to fourth at the CCS finals
By Kevin Sparrer
In cross country, it isn't the effort of one that wins the day, but the efforts of many.
Homestead may not have had an individual runner finish in the top 10 in the Division I race at the Central Coast Section cross country finals on Nov. 11 at Toro Park in Salinas, but the Mustangs were close enough together to finish fourth as a team and 12th overall in CCS.
Nick Oliver was the first Mustang to finish. Oliver was 15th in the division and 52nd overall, running 16:36 on the 3.0-mile course. Behind him came Alexander Colbeth (19th in 16:54), Rishi Agrawal (23rd in 17:00), Sameer Tharakan (29th in 17:12) and Morgan Quail (46th in 17:33). Also running for Homestead were Mike Louthan and Marcos Gaeta.
For the female Mustangs it was Emily Evans who led the run. Evans finished ninth in the division, leading the team to a fourth-place finish and a 15th-place finish overall.
Evans came in ninth and 34th overall in 19:23. Laura Pochowski was 21st and 78th overall in 20:14 with Kristen Peanasky 22nd in 20:32, Rachel Moll 24th in 20:35 and Taj Forouhari 45th in 21:33. Clarissa Chan and Alissa Hayes also ran for the Mustangs.
For Monta Vista it was Simon Bill who led the boys. Bill finished eighth in Division I and 27th overall, leading the Matadors to a fifth-place finish and 19th overall. Bill was one of only two runners on his team to finish in the top 100 overall.
Bill completed the three miles in 16:21. Behind him was Brian Bedford in 25th in 17:04, Yu Hsiao 28th in 17:09, Daniel Siebel-Cortopa 39th in 17:28 and Kranti Peddada 48th in 17:38. Also running for Monta Vista were Tom Bill and Grant Kadokura.
Jean Feng was the top runner for Monta Vista's girls. Feng finished seventh in the division and 31st overall in 19:18 leading Monta Vista to a third-place finish in the division and 10th overall.
Lisa Worsham was 11th, 37th overall, in 19:26 with Angela Hsu 12th, 40th overall, in 19:31. Kelli Sum was 37th in 21:06 and Rosa Ng was 40th in 21:17. Yasamin Yazdi and Kay Poon also ran for Monta Vista.
For Lynbrook, it was Jason Wang who led the effort, running 17:02 to nail 27th in Division II and 86th overall. Lynbrook finished 10th in the division and 28 overall.
About 30 seconds behind Wang was Gene Burinskiy, 49th in 17:34, followed by Luca Signore (56th in 17:42), Eric Surprenant (60th in 17:50) and Amrit Subramanian (77th in 18:08). Also running for Lynbrook were Andrew Lum and Andrew Jang.
The girls from Lynbrook were almost identical to the boys. The girls also finished 10th in Division II and 31st overall. It was MayC Huang who led Lynbrook, finishing 34th in 20:36. Cindy Ju was 37th in 20:48 with Michelle Yee 38th in 20:51, Nishi Waghray 61st in 21:36 and Kristen Bryson 70th in 22:04. Also running for Lynbrook were Anna Sadovikova and Yvonne Fong.
Cupertino was another team that didn't have anyone finish in the top 10 in its division, but was able to finish sixth in Division III and 26th overall because less than a minute and a half separated the first and last runners.
Abiy Gebrekristos was the first runner, finishing 20th, 73rd overall, in 16:55. Mrinal Bedi was 33rd in 17:14 with Peter Chew 49th in 17:43, Max Pommier 55th in 17:50 and Stanislav Rumyantsev 69th in 18:15. Also running were Roger Hu and Hsin-Chang Chen.
For the Cupertino girls it was Sumika Shiokawa that was the front runner. Shiokawa finished fifth in the division and 15th overall, but Cupertino still was only able to finish 10th as a team in the division and 35 overall.
Shiokawa finished the race in 18:53. Behind her were Simei Yeh (40th in 21:11), Hansol Kim (54th in 21:39), Cecilia Wu (59th in 21:47) and Elaine Won (69th in 22:23). Melissa Gomez and Natalie Buchinski also ran for Cupertino.
