By Pete Borello
Spring Sports Summary
hile the Mountain View High badminton team has more girls than it did last season, coach Kelly Kuboyama admits he probably needs a few more for the Spartans to challenge for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League title.
“The boys will have to carry us again this year,” he said.
That’s been the case thus far, with the Spartans off to a 4-1 start in league behind the strength of their talented and experienced boys.
“I have four boys so versatile they can move around anywhere,” Kuboyama said.
Leading this foursome are Anh Vo and Tri Tang, whom the coach calls “my best two players.”
Vo and Tang teamed up for a win in No. 1 doubles last Thursday in Mountain View’s 40-31 home victory over Cupertino.
The No. 2 team of Dhiren Mistry and Brian Chiu also came away victorious vs. Cupertino.
The girls lack not only depth, but also experience: Katharine Lu is the squad’s only senior.
Kuboyama is encouraged by the number of freshmen out for this year’s team, though, and raves about one in particular.
“Rose Wei is going to be something special if she sticks with it,” he said. “She’s a great athlete.”
Wei, who also plays volleyball, on Thursday earned her first win at No. 2 singles.
Track & Field
Los Altos split its SCVAL De Anza Division meet at Santa Clara last Thursday, with the girls winning 98-24 and the boys losing 76-51.
Allie Miller, Andrea Cummings and Vivian Chiu led the girls (2-1) by winning two events each. Miller claimed both hurdles events, running the 100 meters in 16 seconds flat and the 300 in 49.8. Cummings won the 100 dash (13.1) and long jump (16 feet, 4 inches), while Chiu captured the mile (6:03) and two-mile (13:11) runs.
Other Los Altos winners included Laura Perry in the 800 (2:38), Haley Lerch in the 400 (67.1), Danielle Marcoux in the 200 (28.3), Kristen Matilainen in the high jump (4-8), Merissa Periana in the triple jump (31-6) and Janet Young in the discus (81-5).
On the boys’ side, the Eagles (1-2) received individual wins from Adam McKim in the 400 (54.2), Taff Dirks in the two-mile (10:35) and Andrew Van Straaten in the high jump (5-8).
Two days earlier, the Los Altos boys defeated visiting Palo Alto 68-59 and the girls lost to the Vikings 88-44.
After getting thumped by Milpitas earlier in the week, Mountain View went into Thursday’s home meet against Cupertino with something to prove.
“The girls were pretty upset and (the loss) definitely motivated them,” Spartans coach Samantha Read said. “And it was certainly the same on the boys’ side as well.”
The Mountain View girls (2-1) clobbered Cupertino 87-39, while the Spartan boys (1-2) prevailed 74-53.
The girls were led by Kathy Santoso, who won both the long (14-11) and triple (31-9) jumps.
Jonathan Lam paced the boys with wins in the high jump (5-0) and long jump (18-8).
Runner Ruth Graham provided one of the few highlights for the Gunn girls in a 90-36 loss at Los Gatos March 19. Graham won the mile with a personal-best time of 4:57.27.
The Gunn boys routed Los Gatos 87-39 behind four individual wins from Phil Ghilarducci.
Boys Golf
St. Francis suffered its first West Catholic Athletic League loss March 19, falling 155-158 to Serra at Green Hills. Kevin Lozares led the Lancers (3-1, 5-2) with a 38, which tied for the best score of the day.
