Gleeson tops at CCS Top 8 meet
Bond, Bushnell each fourth in the weights
By Dick Sparrer
Kim Gleeson is the best in the Central Coast Section (CCS)--at least she was last Friday night when the Lynbrook senior was named the field athlete of the meet at the CCS Top 8 event at Los Gatos High School.
Gleeson finished first in both the shot put and discus to lead Lynbrook to a sixth-place finish in the team standings at the prestigious meet.
"This is really a CCS preview meet," said meet director Willie Harmatz of Los Gatos. "It was a great meet, and we had a big crowd."
Gleeson pleased the crowd with her efforts in the weight events. She heaved the shot put 38-4 for a victory, and tossed the discus 143-6 for another win.
Lynbrook's Sheridon McPherson soared to a fourth in the triple jump at 35-8 and added a 10th in the 100-meter dash in 13.21 to support Gleeson's effort.
Julie Chen was fifth in the 300-meter hurdles in 48.53, and she added a sixth in the 100 hurdles in 16.54. Kate Bossange was sixth in the 400-meter run in 1:01.83, and the Vikings were seventh in the 4x100 relay in 50.90 and 11th in the 4x400 relay in 4:24.28.
As a result, the Vikings were able to tie for sixth in the team standings. Los Gatos rolled up 56 points to win the meet, with Monterey second at 43, Carlmont third at 32, Mt. Pleasant fourth at 30, San Benito fifth at 29, and Lynbrook and Wilcox sharing sixth with 28 points apiece.
Carly Bond of Cupertino and Kelly Bushnell of Fremont led the Pioneers and Firebirds into the top 30 in the team standings with fourth-place finishes in the weights.
Bond was fourth in the shot put at 35-11.5, and Bushnell was fourth in the discus at 108-5 after nailing ninth in the shot at 31-9.
Because of their efforts, Cupertino and Fremont tied for 28th in the team standings.
Karen Stringer, Dana Underwood and Kylie Ratkovich all finished strong, but Monta Vista had to settle for a tie for 36th overall in the Top 8 meet.
Stringer was seventh in the 400 in 1:02.33, Underwood was eighth in the 800 in 2:21.05, and Ratkovich was ninth in the 300 hurdles in 49.21 and 11th in the 100 hurdles in 17.38.
The Matadors were also sixth in the 4x400 relay in 4:16.78.
In boys varsity action at the Top 8, Matt Barkley of Fremont heaved the shot put 46-5.5 to finish 10th overall.
The Lynbrook frosh-soph earned a top-10 finish at the Top 8. The Vikings ran up 25 points to finish seventh overall in the boys frosh-soph division.
Darrell Robert starred for the Vikings in the meet by finishing second in the 200 in 23.73, and he was fourth in the 100 in 11.83.
Chris Deal supported with a fourth in the triple jump at 41-4.
The Vikings were also third in the 4x400 relay in 3:34.67, and finished fourth in the 4x100 relay in 45.61.
Jim Grantham of the King's Academy placed in a pair of events at the Top 8. Grantham was fourth in the 400 in 53.59 and sixth in the 200 in 24.27.
Monta Vista's Jason Yow raced to a fourth in the 1,600-meter run in 4:33.90.
Austin Sardella of Fremont was sixth in the 1,600 in 4:38.63, and teammate Vince Velgado was sixth in the 300 hurdles in 45.50.
Frosh-Soph Top 8
Top freshman and sophomore competitors were in action at Los Gatos back on April 5 in the annual Frosh-Soph Top 8 Classic.
Monta Vista's Deal and Underwood both cruised to victories in the meet to top the list of local placers.
Deal soared to a win in the boys triple jump at 40-6.75, and Underwood raced to a first in the girls 800 in 2:23.0.
The Monta Vista girls also hit the tape first in the 4x400 relay, finishing first in 4:16.8.
Yow nailed a second in the boys 1,600 in 4:39.3 for the Matadors; Stringer was third in the girls 400 in 63.1 and eighth in the 200 in 28.1; and Ratkovich was fourth in the girls 300 hurdles in 48.3 and fifth in the 100 hurdles in 17.4.
Bushnell starred for Fremont in the frosh-soph meet with a second in the discus at 104-1 and a fourth in the shot put at 30-3.
In boys competition, Velgado was second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 43.6 and Sardella was fifth in the 1,600 in 4:43.3.
Chen led the Lynbrook effort at the Frosh-Soph Top 8 Classic. She was fourth in the 100 hurdles in 17.3 and sixth in the 300 hurdles in 49.3.
The Vikings were third in the 4x100 relay in 53.6, Jen Wu was eighth in the long jump at 12-11 and Aya Wakabayashi was eighth in the 1,600 in 5:41.6.
In boys action, Lynbrook's Darrell Roberts tied for fifth in the 200 in 23.8 and tied for sixth in the 100 in 11.7. The Vikes won the 4x400 relay in 3:36.7 and tied for fourth in the 4x100 relay in 45.8.
Cupertino's Stacy Boyle raced to a fifth in the girls 300 hurdles in 49.0, and Andrew Loc was 11th in the boys 800 in 2:10.1.
Grantham was seventh in the 400 in 54.0 for King's.
Baseball
Baseball action was limited last week because of spring break, but Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) teams did play a handful of games.
Homestead rolled to an 11-4 victory over Monta Vista in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL, Cupertino split in a pair of De Anza Division games and Fremont edged Menlo 3-2 in a non-league game.
Brian McGee ran his mound record to 6-1 for the year by tossing the win for the Mustangs in last week's clash with Monta Vista. Homestead held the Matadors to just five hits in the game.
McGee and Bryan Beres each ripped home runs for the Mustangs in the win, and Brandon Dougherty belted three hits. Matt Whiteman and Brad McGee each doubled for Homestead.
Monta Vista took the early lead in the game on a bases-loaded double by Scott Parisi that cleared the bags. But Homestead chipped away with single runs in the second, third and fourth to tie it, then pulled away with two in the fifth and six in the sixth.
The loss left Monta Vista 0-11 in the division, but Homestead improved to 8-4 in league play with the win. The Mustangs currently share second place in the circuit with Santa Clara. Palo Alto leads the division with a 10-1 mark.
Homestead is 14-7 overall this year.
Cupertino, meanwhile, opened play last week with an 8-3 win over Saratoga, but the Pioneers lost 14-3 to Los Gatos on Friday to see their league record evened at 6-6. Cupertino is 9-11 for the year.
Brian Kettner doubled twice and singled to lead the Pioneers to the 8-3 win over Saratoga last week. Scott Emery also doubled, and he was the winning pitcher for Cupertino.
Kyle Haberman ripped a double to lead a four-hit attack, but the Pioneers lost to the Wildcats last Friday.
The Cats jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but the Pioneers answered with two in the second to get close at 3-2. Gatos, though, unloaded for five in the second and coasted from there to the win.
Fremont lifted its season record to 10-13-1 with a tight win over Menlo in a non-league game last week.
Tyler Duran and Javier Eredia combined to flip a six-hitter in the win. Duran was the winning pitcher, and Eredia came on in relief to pick up the save.
Duran and Eredia also led the offensive attack for the Firebirds with two hits apiece in the victory.
The Firebirds return to league action this week. Fremont was to play Saratoga on Monday and will host the Falcons again on April 26, 3:30 p.m., in De Anza Division play. The following Monday, April 29, Fremont heads to Gunn for a 3:30 p.m. game.
Cupertino, California Since 1947
