Local schools excel in league track finals
By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer
 R. Alan Hwang/special to the Town Crier Los Altos High’s Denny Fafek competes at No. 1 singles Thursday in a CCS match against Mouuntain View. He won in two sets. |
Last Thursday’s Central Coast Section opener pitting Los Altos High vs. Mountain View High further proved how gigantic the gap is between boys tennis teams in the De Anza Division and those in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.
Los Altos entered the match at 10-8 after finishing fourth in the upper De Anza Division; Mountain View came in 12-4 after taking second in the lower El Camino Division.
The host Eagles won 7-0 to advance to the quarterfinals of the CCS Division I playoffs. Los Altos won six of the seven individual matches in straight sets.
“We had an easy win,” Eagles coach Cuong Duong said. “It wasn’t a real fight.”
Los Altos’ No. 1 player, sophomore Denny Fafek, beat Mountain View’s Quan Vu 6-3, 7-5. It was a closer match than when the two players met a week earlier in a USTA tournament, where Fafek won 6-1, 6-1.
In doubles, the Eagles’ top tandem of Baubak Azadan and Camille Fritsch stopped Spartans Peter Shapp and Alex Henke by a 6-4, 6-4 score.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” Duong said of his team, scheduled to face undefeated Bellarmine in the next round.
Track and field
In what head coach Julia Widstrand called a “great day for us,” the host Los Altos boys and girls placed second and fourth, respectively, at last Thursday’s SCVAL De Anza Division meet.
The Los Altos boys, league dual-meet champions, received a rousing win from Eric Hersey in the 300-meter hurdles. The sophomore clocked in at 38.94 seconds, the eighth-best time in the state this year. Hersey also claimed the 110 hurdles (14.98).
In addition, the Eagles received wins from Jeff Clark in the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches) and the 1,600 relay team (3:29.94).
The Los Altos girls were led by sophomore Bria Nelson, who finished second in the 400 (57.64) and 200 (25.84) runs.
A day earlier at the SCVAL El Camino Division meet, host Mountain View placed first among the boys and third on the girls’ side.
Robbie Reid won the 800 run (1:59.47) for the Spartan boys, who also won the 400 relay (44.89).
The Mountain View girls also captured two events: Kate Kornegay in the 100 hurdles (16.38) and Jane Doolittle in the high jump (5 feet).
Softball
Mountain View played extra innings against Lynbrook for the second time this season, but the Spartans couldn’t pull out a win like they did in the earlier game. The host Vikings scored in the 10th inning to prevail 1-0 last Thursday in SCVAL De Anza Division action. Liz Gist took the loss for Mountain View, which sunk to 4-5 in league and 11-10 overall. Amy Sherrill had two of the Spartans’ four hits.
Baseball
Behind the scorching bat of Joe Hatasaki, Mountain View edged Cupertino 8-7 May 4 to improve to 4-10 in the SCVAL De Anza Division. Hatasaki went 4-for-4 with two doubles. The host Spartans had 10 hits in all.
Gymnastics
St. Francis High’s junior-varsity team made SCVAL history with a score of 180.300 Thursday to win the league for the second year in a row.
Golf
Charlie Sines and Will Hayden each shot 145 at the two-day SCVAL finals last week to lead Los Altos. Teammate Andrew Chow shot 146.
