By Pete Borello
 Photo by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier |
Prep Sports Roundup
Cross country
Mountain View and Los Altos highs both participated in the SCVAL Invitational on Sept. 25 at Central Park, a flat, 2.3-mile course in Santa Clara.
“We had a pretty good day,” said Mountain View coach Sam Read, who had her varsity team members run in their class levels.
Chris Blood finished fifth in the sophomore boys race, clocking a 13:02. Kathryn Ledoux took fifth in the freshman girls race with a 16:08.
The Los Altos boys team finished fourth out of 14 schools. Top five overall finishers for the boys included Taff Dirks (eighth place, 12:24), Andrew Buysse (19th, 12:47), Miles Prowse (26th, 13:00), Fletcher Adam (28th, 13:06), and Matthew Weiden (31st, 13:13).
The Los Altos girls finished 10th out of 15 schools. Top five finishers for the girls included Lindsey Fish (34th place out of 81 total runners, 15:40), Laura Perry (36th, 15:52), Amanda Keller (42nd, 16:18), Merissa Periana (45th, 16:24), and Leyna Lightman (75th, 18:55).
On Saturday, Los Altos will run in the Clovis Invitational in Fresno, while Mountain View will compete in the Artichoke Invitational in Half Moon Bay.
Girls golf
St. Francis stayed perfect last week by winning a pair of matches against Presentation.
On Sept. 25 the Lancers routed host Presentation 183-197 at Silver Creek Country Club. Eloise Vicencio paced St. Francis with a match-best 39. Teammate Tierney Powers finished third with a 45.
Two days later the host Lancers (7-0) beat Presentation 183-190 at Shoreline Golf Links. Vicencio had the top score of the day with a 41 and Powers tied for second with a 43.
Boys water polo
Gareth Bartholomeusz scored six goals to lead Gunn to a 12-8 win over visiting Saratoga on Sept. 26.
Yuri Bukhan added two goals and goalie Paul Esber had eight saves and four steals.
Girls water polo
The St. Francis High girls tennis team maintained its perfect record last week with a convincing win over Lynbrook.
The Lancers beat the visiting Vikings 6-1 on Sept. 25 at Cuesta Park. The win improved St. Francis’ record to 4-0 in the SCVAL De Anza Division and 6-0 overall.
All six of the Lancers’ wins came in straight sets, including sophomore Stephanie Schnitter’s 6-0, 6-0 rout at No. 1 singles. Laura Boskovich and Erica Boutacoff, playing No. 2 and 3 singles, respectively, also posted 6-0, 6-0 wins.
St. Francis’ top doubles team of Shannon Conner and Monica Martin de Bustamante prevailed 6-1, 6-4.
St. Francis wasn’t the only area team to enter this week undefeated. Pinewood upped its record to 9-0 on Sept. 25 with a 5-2 non-league win over Gunn.
The host Panthers won all four singles matches in straight sets, with No. 1 Lejla Hodzic recording a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Gunn went on a 10-1 run in the second half to beat host Homestead 17-4 on Sept. 26.
The Titans jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Homestead scored a goal at the end of the first quarter and two more at the start of the second to tighten the De Anza Division match.
Gunn increased its defensive pressure and closed out the first half with a 7-3 lead.
The second half was all Gunn.
Solid goal keeping by Anna Ruzhnikov and Liza Zenkin helped limit Homestead to a single goal in the last two quarters.
