The Mountain View High gymnastics team is so deep, the Spartans didn’t even need their best score of the season to win last week’s Central Coast Section championship meet.
The 151.700 Mountain View amassed May 17 at Gymtowne in South San Francisco ranks as the team’s third-highest total of the year, yet it was more than enough to beat runner-up Half Moon Bay (148.600).
“It was still pretty high – and with a few falls on events,” said coach Sarah Wallace, whose team exceeded that score at the Last Chance Meet (152.95) and the SCVAL championships (152.800) earlier this month. “It shows how good they are and how deep the team is.”
Wallace, who has been coaching the Mountain View and Los Altos teams since 2017, said this is the deepest squad she’s ever had. The Spartans won all four individual events at CCS, and four of their gymnasts finished in the top eight all-around.
“Because of the depth, we knew that if someone didn’t have their normal routine, someone else would take their spot (as far as ranking in that event),” Wallace said. “We were seven or eight deep in some events.”
Four Mountain View gymnasts placed among the top 10 all-around: Misty Mukherjee (fourth, 38.200), Rettie Chow (fifth, 38.100), Alyssa Ong (seventh, 37.850) and lone senior Anna Kolpakova (eighth, 36.900).
Wallace said Mukherjee “had great routines on every event, except for the one fall on beam.” She and Chow performed “some of the best vaults I’ve seen,” the coach added, placing third and fourth, respectively.
Ong finished second on bars and Mukherjee was third. Kolpakova tied for third on floor “with a great routine,” Wallace said.
St. Francis put up a team score of 148 to place third at CCS. Caelan Nash and Brooke Bonner led the Lancers with all-around scores of 36.800, tying for ninth.
Sarah Mosalem, the only Los Altos gymnast to compete all-around, came in 26th with a 33.750.
“She did well,” Wallace said of the senior. “Her fall on beam dropped her score a bit, but overall she had a solid meet.”
Softball
Top-seeded St. Francis made quick work of No. 8 San Lorenzo Valley in Saturday’s CCS Open quarterfinals, routing the visitors 14-0 in five innings on the mercy rule. Ten of those runs came in the third inning.
Kate Munnerlyn and Madison Ferraro both homered for the Lancers (25-2 overall), Lexi O’Gorman went 3-for-3 with three RBIs (matching Munnerlyn’s total) and Chloe Cummings was 2-for-2 with two RBIs.
Pitchers Shannon Keighran and Munnerlyn combined on a one-hitter.
The Lancers were slated to meet No. 5 Willow Glen (20-6) Tuesday (after the Town Crier’s deadline) at Los Gatos in the semifinals.
Sixth-seeded Los Altos advanced to the Division II semis by beating No. 3 Los Gatos 6-3 Saturday. The visiting Eagles (15-9) scored five runs in the seventh to take control of the quarterfinal.
Lauren Han, Kelly Zoglin and Zoe Aguilar each had two hits for Los Altos. Pitcher Sophia Asar earned the win.
The Eagles are set to take on No. 2 Salinas (15-11) 4 p.m. today at Saratoga, with the winner moving on to Friday’s final.
Mountain View, the top seed in Division IV, failed to get beyond the quarterfinals. The host Spartans (16-12) lost 6-4 to No. 8 Pacific Grove Saturday.
Host Mountain View (16-12) jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first, only to fall behind 6-1 in the top of the sixth. The Spartans scored three runs in the bottom of the frame to make it close.
Losing pitcher Allison Marcellino went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Teammate Mili Patel hit a triple.
Baseball
Los Altos had more hits and baserunners than St. Francis of Watsonville – and couldn’t have asked for much more from starting pitcher Eric Colgrove – yet the Eagles found themselves on the losing end of Saturday’s CCS Division III quarterfinal game. The second-seeded Sharks blanked visiting No. 7 Los Altos 5-0.
“Much like the Eagles overall year, the stats didn’t always tell the story,” Los Altos coach Gabe Stewart said.
The Eagles outhit St. Francis 6-4, but “failed on many offensive chances,” Stewart added. Los Altos (13-14) loaded the bases with one away in the fourth, only to come away empty.
The Eagles also wasted an A-level performance from Colgrove, who didn’t allow an earned run over 5.2 innings pitched. He struck out seven and walked two. Stewart called Colgrove “the star” Saturday for keeping the Sharks “off kilter with varying pitches, mixing speeds and hitting his spots.”
St. Francis (18-9) scored its first run in the fifth and added four more in the sixth.
Stuart Cash finished with two hits for Los Altos, including a double.
In the Division I quarterfinals, No. 6 Hollister surprised third-seeded St. Francis 6-1 in Mountain View. Luke DeVine hit a pair of doubles for the Lancers (16-13) and scored their lone run Saturday.
Boys volleyball
After cruising to a straight-set victory in the first round of the Northern California Division I playoffs, No. 5 St. Francis (27-9) met its match in Thursday’s semifinals. Top-seeded Clovis West (40-5) swept the visiting Lancers 25-18, 25-14, 26-24.
Two days earlier, St. Francis traveled to No. 4 Amador Valley (28-8) for the quarterfinals and prevailed 25-16, 25-22, 25-23.
Boys lacrosse
Sixth-seeded St. Francis couldn’t keep up with No. 2 Sacred Heart Prep in last week’s CCS semifinals. The host Gators beat the Lancers 16-3 May 17.
St. Francis, which upset No. 3 Menlo in the quarterfinals, finished 11-7.
Girls lacrosse
The St. Francis girls suffered a similar fate as the school’s boys team. The No. 5 Lancers lost 20-4 at top-seeded St. Ignatius in the May 17 semis to end the season 12-6.
Boys tennis
Two local players made it as far as the quarterfinals of last week’s CCS singles championships.
St. Francis’ Shiven Mehta and Pinewood’s Jason Rowe, both unseeded, won first-round matches before encountering opponents that would eventually meet in the finals. Crystal Springs’ Anthony Lim defeated Mehta 7-5, 6-1, and Half Moon Bay’s Charlie Underwood toppled Rowe 6-1, 6-3 May 16 in Aptos.
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