St. Francis gymnasts win league meet ahead of Los Altos

By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer

It was foggy, cold and breezy throughout, but Mountain View High weathered the weather to win the second day of the Central Coast Section Boys Regional Golf Championships.

The Spartans shot a 381 May 9 on the West course at Rancho Cañada Golf Club in Carmel to beat runner-up R.L. Stevenson by three strokes. Serra and Palma tied for third, 11 strokes behind.

“We didn’t score too well, but it was good enough to come in first,” Mountain View coach Steve Miyano said. “The weather made the playing conditions very difficult for all the golfers.”

Mountain View’s Tyler Ichikawa wasn’t as fazed as the rest, shooting a one-over-par 72 to claim medalist honors.

“Ty’s 72 was a fabulous score,” Miyano said of the Santa Clara University-bound senior.

His brother, sophomore Adam Ichikawa, and junior Spencer Fletcher tied for fifth, each shooting 74 for Mountain View. Senior Cameron Showecker added a 13th-place score of 77.

The Spartans returned to Rancho Cañada this week for the CCS championships, played after the Town Crier went to press.

“I believe that we will do very well next Tuesday,” Miyano said last week. “The boys are playing well.”

St. Francis didn’t qualify for the CCS finals as a team, but two Lancers shot well enough at the May 9 regional to advance as individuals. Sean Nadir finished eighth (75) and fellow junior Eric Runge came in 10th (76).

Los Altos High junior Andrew Kaneshiro, who tied for sixth at the SCVAL tournament the previous week to earn all-league honors, missed the cut.

The top tier at the CCS finals advances to the Northern California Regionals Monday at Brookside Country Club in Stockton.

Gymnastics

St. Francis’ Lexy Flores earned all-around honors with 38.40 points. She was followed by teammates Lea Koukis (37.15) and Sara Silano (37.00). Flores won the vault (9.65) and floor (9.90), Koukis the bars (9.75) and Silano the beam (9.50).

Los Altos had three gymnasts finish in the top 10 all-around, all of them qualifying individually for CCS. Junior Jessica Lundgren was fifth all-around (36.15). She was fourth on vault (8.75), seventh on bars (9.20), sixth on beam (8.9) and eighth on floor (9.30).

Freshman Ericka Hicks came in seventh all-around (35.50). She was 10th on bars (8.85), fifth on beam (9.0) and sixth on floor (9.35). Twin sister Erin Hicks finished ninth all-around (33.55). She was 10th on floor (9.20).

Los Altos sophomore Tori Chin made CCS on the bars.

“This was a difficult year for Los Altos. Injuries sidelined Jessica Lundgren during the first half of the season and Tori Chin during the last half,” Eagles coach Lina Slack said. “While we made some breakthroughs this year in terms of building confidence, we will have to diligently continue this journey in order to show improvement next year. Fortunately, this team is young, with all but one returning next year.”

Softball

St. Francis (11-13) is the 11th seed and is scheduled to play No. 6 Aptos (19-9) at 5 p.m. Thursday at Hawes Park. The winner meets No. 3 Leigh (17-9) at 12:15 p.m. Saturday in Salinas.

Los Altos made a game of it but couldn’t get a win for Bernie Quintero in his last game as coach. The Eagles fell 10-8 to visiting Santa Clara May 9.

Quintero, who has coached Los Altos for 22 years, is stepping down for health reasons.

The Eagles went 0-12 in the El Camino Division, 1-17 overall.