Schneider outran the competition on a flat and fast 2.1-mile course at Lynbrook High to capture the 10th annual Lynbrook Invitational. He also earned the Fremont Union High School District boys title, as the event served as the FUHSD championships for Homestead, Fremont, Cupertino, Monta Vista and Lynbrook.

The Firebird junior clocked 10:26.7, more than five seconds ahead of runner-up Hari Iyer of Saratoga. Iyer (10:32.1) finished ahead of Monta Vista seniors Jason Yow (10:39) and Matt Paquet (10:41). Lynbrook senior Luis Jensen (10:48) was fifth.

Saratoga senior Alicia Follmar easily won the girls race in 11:37.3, a new girls course record. Cupertino sophomore Julianne Hansen (12:19.8) was well off Follmar's torrid pace, but indeed was the best of the other 45 varsity girls and earned a district championship. Lynbrook sophomore MayC Huang (12:24) was third, followed by Monta Vista junior Stephanie Cham and Cupertino freshman Sumika Shiokawa.

Fremont sophomore Elijah Carrillo (11:08) took 11th in the varsity boys race. Rishi Agrawal, another sophomore, was Homestead's top finisher. He ran 11:12 for 13th place.

Monta Vista became the undisputed district champion for 2004, as the top five Matadors in each of the four divisions posted the lowest combined times.

Yow (10:39) and Paquet (10:41) paced the Matadors to a team course record (54:38.9) and the varsity boys crown. Junior teammate Scott Russell (11:02) and sophomores Simon Bill (11:06) and Harold Pan (11:09) all finished in the top 12.

The Matadors' varsity girls needed a course record (63:59.2) to beat out Cupertino for a district title. Cham (12:28), sophomores Angela Hsu (12:33) and Lisa Worsham (12:35), and juniors Judy Liang (13:08) and Vanessa Shih (13:12) placed 4-6-7-10-12 for 39 points.

Cupertino's top five runners—Hansen, Shiokawa, junior Kim Chew (12:57), senior Lisa Williams (13:12) and freshman Melissa Gomez (13:21)—placed 2-5-9-11-13 for 40 points. The Pioneers' sixth runner, senior Stacie Boyle, finished 14th.

Lynbrook takes tourney

Lynbrook's girls water polo team won four straight games Oct. 29­30 to beat out seven other teams for the championship of their division at Lincoln High's Halloween Classic in San Jose.

Led by goalie Liana Wildeboer's defense, Lynbrook opened the event with a 9-0 win over Homestead and an 8-0 blanking of Monta Vista. Eileen Shu scored five goals Jessica Chen three and Jennifer Ngo one against the Mustangs. Emily Fisker led the Vikings with four goals against the Matadors.

The next day Lynbrook edged Santa Teresa 5-2, before beating Saratoga 8-5 for the title. Fisker tallied two goals and Mor Keren-Gill, Shu and Chen one each against the Saints. Fisker (four), Shu (two) and Chen (two) accounted for all of the scoring in the finale against the Falcons.

Homestead won just one of four games in the tourney, but received good scoring from Emily Pool.

Meanwhile, Homestead's boys water polo team suffered a tough 10-7 defeat to SCVAL-El Camino rival Wilcox on Oct. 28. Kenny Russum was the Mustangs' top scorer with five goals. Thomas Denton and Derrick Lee both scored one.

The Mustangs had won their two previous El Camino contests, 14-2 over Fremont on Oct. 19 and 17-5 over Santa Clara the next day. Russum and Denton both tallied four goals against Santa Clara, while Lee and Simon Iacob added two apiece. Paul Chen, Karta Khalsa and Russum paced the win over Fremont with three goals apiece.

Matadors await CCS

After defeating Gunn 6-1 and Los Gatos 7-0 last week, Monta Vista's girls tennis team finished its regular season schedule with records of 12-0 in the SCVAL-De Anza Division and 22-0 overall.

The Matadors, who now have won 58 consecutive matches, likely will be the top seed when the Central Coast Section team tournament begins on Nov. 9.

The Matadors are looking to successfully defend their CCS crown, so they can have a chance to repeat as Northern California champions.

Homestead drops tough one

After cutting an 11-point deficit to five and then driving into Saratoga's red zone with less than a minute to play, Homestead was looking for a go-ahead touchdown. Instead, the rally was cut short by a Falcon interception and the Mustangs lost 21-16.

Trailing 21-10 midway through the fourth period, Homestead quarterback Jake Mecchi engineered a six-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Mecchi connected on two passes to Aaron Hickson (one for 35 yards), one to Jay Atkins and a 17-yarder to Craig Moberg, moving the ball to Saratoga's 1-yard line. Chris Morris ran it in from there to make it 21-16, but a two-point conversion attempt was stopped by the Falcons.

But with 5:14 still remaining to play, the Mustangs had time if its defense could get the ball back. And it did.

After Saratoga ran the ball for one first down, Homestead's defense stiffened. After two delay-of-game penalties, the Falcons risked a pass on third-and-19. Safety Tim Kimball intercepted for Homestead at his own 40 and returned it to the Falcons' 43 with less than three minutes to go.

A19-yard pass from Mecchi to tight end Greg Jackson and runs by Morris and Mecchi gave Homestead a first down on Saratoga's 18 with 54 seconds remaining. Two incomplete passes were followed by an interception in the end zone. Saratoga ran out the final seconds.

Saratoga scored first in the game, but Homestead tied the game late in the first quarter. Mecchi and Hickson hooked up for a 43-yard touchdown pass and Moberg kicked the extra point.

Two series later, Saratoga went ahead 14-7 with 6:12 left in the first half. The Mustangs then went on a 12-play march that stalled at Saratoga's 5-yard line. Moberg's 18-yard field goal cut the Falcons' lead to 14-10.

Homestead (5-3 overall, 1-3 league) hosts Palo Alto in its final home game of the season at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Diesner Field.