By Pete Borello
Spring Sports Summary
espite getting upset by Serra in last week’s West Catholic Athletic League Championships, the St. Francis High boys golf team went into Tuesday’s Central Coast Section Regional Tournament with ample confidence.
“We played as bad as we possibly could have and we still lost by only three strokes,” said senior Adam Sollers, referring to the April 30 league championships at Half Moon Bay’s Links Course. “If we play up to our capabilities, there’s no question we can probably win the CCS tournament. We definitely have the talent.”
But first, the Lancers needed to qualify for the CCS Championships. The top four teams at Tuesday’s regional, played after the Town Crier went to press, move on to the May 15 finals.
Both events take place at Rancho Cañada West, a course the Lancers will probably find friendlier than the Links Course.
St. Francis entered the WCAL tourney as the clear favorite, having won the regular season crown with a 12-0 record for the second year in a row.
But none of the Lancers finished better than 5-over par and Serra prevailed 392-395.
“Serra surprised us,” Sollers said, noting that the Padres’ No. 6 player finished with the top score of the day. “We weren’t prepared and didn’t really know the course, and we had a couple of bad scores that hurt us.”
Sollers and teammate John Colyar tied for second overall with 77s. The Lancers’ only other top-10 finishers were freshman Kevin Lozares (79, tied for seventh) and Rick Doer (80, tied for eighth).
“It was really disappointing,” Sollers said of the team’s performance. “But we still have a lot of confidence in ourselves.”
Boys tennis
Los Altos, St. Francis and Gunn all won their CCS quarterfinal matches last Friday to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals.
No. 2 seed Los Altos cruised to a 6-1 home win over Robert Louis Stevenson in the Division II quarterfinals. The Eagles (13-4) swept the doubles and their three victories in singles came in straight sets. No. 1 player Jon Wong coasted to a 6-2, 6-2 win.
Los Altos played No. 3 Mills (22-3) in the semifinals, with the winner qualifying for Thursday’s 2:30 p.m. final at Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos.
St. Francis also moved within a win of Thursday’s Division II final by beating visiting Palo Alto 5-2 last week.
But to get there, the No. 4 Lancers (21-3) had to get by top seed Menlo (19-3) on Tuesday.
Turning to Division I, No. 3 Gunn whipped visiting Aptos 7-0 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Titans (13-6) won all seven matches in straight sets, with No. 1 player Shane Templeman prevailing 6-1, 7-6.
Gunn faced No. 2 Bellarmine (19-3) on Tuesday for the right to play for the title at noon, Thursday, at Courtside.
Swimming & Diving
The St. Francis girls scored 402 points last Friday to win the SCVAL De Anza Division Championships at Saratoga.
Sophomore Kelly Sanders claimed both the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 11.38 seconds) and 100 backstroke (1:00.05) and anchored the Lancers’ victorious 200 freestyle relay team (1:41.02).
The host St. Francis boys took third at Saturday’s WCAL Championships. Adam Peterson won the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 585.90.
At the SCVAL El Camino Division Championships on Saturday, the Homestead girls edged Mountain View 510-499 to take home the title.
Mountain View’s Brook Bishop won both the 100 butterfly (59.01) and 100 back (58.67).
Gymnastics
St. Francis concluded its regular season with a 176.90-146.20 non-league win over San Mateo on May 1. The Lancers (4-0) had the top three all-around scores, led by Noreen Juliano’s 35.90.
