Almaden Resident

Sports

Barnett runs to girls title at the BVAL x-country finals Oct. 30

By Kevin Sparrer

It would seem Stephanie Barnett has winged shoes.

The sophomore speedster flew through the 2.95-mile cross country course at Crystal Springs in the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals on Oct. 30, finishing the run in 18:09 to finish first overall.

Barnett's time was the best for any BVAL girl in the field of 140 runners and earned her a place in the Central Coast Section championship meet at Toro County Park in Salinas on Nov. 11.

Stephanie, though, may not be the only Barnett with winged shoes as freshman Claudia Barnett finished in 19:55, only 10 places behind her sister.

Thanks to the speed of the Barnett girls, as well as the other three Chargers who all finished in the top 30 at the meet, Leland was able to take home third place at the BVAL finals.

Behind C. Barnett was freshman Michelle Hsieh, 24th in 20:42, followed by freshman Erika Eisenberg (27th in 21:05) and sophomore Ashley Nguyen (28th in 21:08).

Senior Monica Song finished 48th in 22:00 for the Chargers and junior Kikita Fkiaras was 57th in 22:23.

The male Chargers lived up to their name, charging through the competition to another third place finish for Leland. Sophomore Frank Gao led Leland with a 14th place finish in 16:56 while sophomore Matt Vera came close behind, 17th in 17:03. Behind them came sophomore Joel Ayal, 31st in 17:27; senior Jim Gao, 47th in 18:02; and sophomore Tony Gerbino, 52nd in 18:04.

Also running for Leland were senior John Kassa, 68th in 18:25, and sophomore Braden Kolte, 71st in 18:28.

Leland's neighbors, the Pioneer Mustangs, didn't have quite as much success in the run. The boys finished 15th while the girls were back in 20th.

It was senior Ken Earl who led the Mustangs, claiming 15th place in 16:58. Junior Ryan Ravel was 72nd in 18:29 with senior Drew McReynolds 75th in 18:34, freshman Rey Blume 99th in 18:58 and sophomore Sean Pacheco 122nd in 19:51.

Pioneer's Kira Rienecker finished 71st in 23:15 in the girls varsity race with junior Tiani Small 89th in 24:02.

While Leland's varsity girls were running with the wind, so were the junior varsity girls. The Leland JVs finished the Crystal Springs run in second place with sophomore Lauren Chin leading the effort. Chin finished second overall in 22:01. Behind Chin were freshman Alexa Hunter, ninth in 22:55; sophomore Gianna Sen-Gupta, 15th in 23:50; freshman Beeta Modarressi, 17th in 23:53; and sophomore Jocelyn Hsia, 27th in 24:31.

The Leland boys frosh-soph team finished third as a team with sophomore Ryan Hirahara leading the way, finishing 12th in 18:47. Behind him came freshman Ben Hu, 21st in 19:38; sophomore Guido Spanjaart, 25th in 19:39; sophomore Ingar Wang, 46th in 20:32; and sophomore Matt LaRochelle, 52nd in 20:59.

Pioneer's boys frosh-soph team finished 10th overall.