By Pete Borello
Around the Gym
Eagles top Gunn
Guided by stellar all-around performer Noreen Juliano and backed by perhaps the best depth in school history, the St. Francis High gymnastics team approached last season’s Central Coast Section championship meet with confidence.
The Lancers went on to win their second-straight title.
This season, coach Lynn Horiye is cautiously optimistic about his team’s chances of an unprecedented “three-peat.” Juliano and fellow standout Laura Warmenhoven have graduated, and Horiye admits the Lancers are vulnerable.
“Our goal is to win CCS, but I don’t know if we can,” he said. “I think it’s going to be harder this year. I think Los Altos is deeper than us.”
The two teams, both undefeated entering this week, were scheduled to face off Tuesday in a league meet at Los Altos. The Lancers will see the Eagles again May 10 at the SCVAL finals and May 15 at the CCS championships, which both teams have already qualified for.
“We’re not going to know how good we are until (CCS),” Horiye said. “It’s going to come down to whoever has the best day.”
St. Francis doesn’t lack for talent, though. The Lancers have several solid all-around performers, led by Courtney Sinclair and Corinne Allen. Sinclair has overcome what Horiye described as “bad ankles” to emerge as the team’s top scorer. The sophomore “has improved in every event this year,” the coach said.
Team co-captain Allen has been the Lancers’ second-best scorer, despite battling injuries and illness. The senior is one of the team’s most experienced performers, according to Horiye, and he expects her to only get stronger as the season progresses.
St. Francis has also received a boost from seniors and co-captains Tess Pinard and Jamie Lawler, juniors Kat Shultis, Kristen Lund and Adrienne Galvez and freshman Alysse Zrebski.
“Our team sees themselves as a unit, with every athlete contributing,” assistant coach Nancy Kludt said.
While Kludt claims the Lancers “have a great team this year,” Horiye said there’s still room for improvement.
“We need to work on every event,” the 16th-year coach said. “We need to work on our consistency.”
And Horiye is confident his gymnasts will work at it.
“This is a hard-working team,” he said. “They get along well together and they’re supportive of one another.”
Last week, St. Francis came together to clobber Cupertino 170.45-109.20.
The visiting Lancers (3-0) won three of the four individual events and Lund captured the all-around title with a 34.75. Sinclair placed first on bars (9.15) and beam (9.20), while Zrebski won the vault (8.45).
Los Altos on April 23 beat Gunn for the first time in nearly 10 years, coming away with a 175.8-174.65 decision at home.
The Eagles had the top two all-around scorers in the non-league meet: Emily Keenan (37.5) and Ciera Kash (36.85).
The Titans were paced by senior Mari Inouye, who earned an all-around score of 36.65.
On Thursday, host Los Altos (7-0) routed Gilroy 174.9-135.1.
Kash and Keenan again led the surging Eagles, posting all-around scores of 37.35 and 36.4, respectively.
