Individual champion Alicia Follmar (18:00) of Saratoga, Hansen and Shiokawa were the only girls to break 19 minutes at the DAL meet held Nov. 2 at the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course in Belmont.

Hansen, the team leader all season, trimmed more than three seconds off of her school record as the Pioneers edged Los Gatos for the league crown. Hansen's second-place time of 18:44.6 eclipsed the mark she had set less than two weeks earlier.

"She has been learning how to be more competitive with the best runners as she gains more experience," explained Cupertino coach Paul Armstrong, who expects even better things from Hansen. "She is at a point for a breakthrough race. I expect her to return to the state meet."

Shiokawa zipped to a new Cupertino freshman record, 18:56.8, eclipsing the standard (18:59) set by Hansen last season.

"Sumika has been the real surprise by becoming our number two or three runner behind Julianne," Armstrong noted. "Junior Kimberly Chew also has been our second or third runner all year. I am looking for her to make a breakthrough."

Chew (20:08, 11th place) and seniors Stacie Boyle (20:13, 12th) and Lisa William (20:29, 14th) contributed to Cupertino's winning time of 98:32.3, a school record at the Crystal Springs course. Los Gatos, with its best runners going 6-7-9-10, ran 99:13.7. Freshman Melissa Gomez (22nd) and sophomore Patricia Lu (32nd) were non-scoring runners for Cupertino in the DAL meet.

The top four DAL teams—Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monta Vista and Saratoga—qualified for the Central Coast Section meet, which is set for Saturday, Nov. 13, at Toro Park in Salinas. Cupertino and Los Gatos will compete in Division II, based on school enrollment. Monta Vista has one of the section's most populated schools and will compete in Division I. Saratoga is Division III.

"I came into the season looking to improve upon our seventh place finish last year," Armstrong said. "The team has a shot at qualifying for state, but all have to have a good day and run PR times."

Monta Vista, led by junior Stephanie Chan (fourth place) and Lisa Worsham (fifth), finished a close third (100:33.0) in the team competition. Sophomore Angela Hsu (20:18) and juniors Judy Liang (20:37) and Vanessa Shih (21:05) ran 13-15-19 for the Matadors.

Two Lynbrook girls, sophomore MayC Huang (19:37) and freshman Cindy Ju (21:41), and Fremont junior Nikki Kinney (21:34) also will run in the CCS meet. Huang, who placed eighth in the league meet, easily had the best time among runners from non-qualifying teams. Kinney finished 24th and Ju took 25th. Homestead's best finisher, sophomore Jill Peanasky, placed 26th.

Monta Vista senior Jason Yow finished third out of 49 runners in the varsity boys race, leading the Matadors to the league crown. Yow (16:10) placed behind winner Kevin Schneider of Fremont (15:43.9) and runner-up Hari Iyer (15:48) of Saratoga.

The Matadors' fastest five runners clocked 84:12, 30 seconds better than Los Gatos. They included junior Scott Russell (16:55), sophomore Simon Bill (16:59) and senior Matt Paquet (17:02), who placed sixth, seventh and eighth. Senior Aaron Sommer was 10th in 17:04.

The Matadors and Wildcats will be joined by the Saratoga and Fremont teams at the CCS meet. As the top three finishers from non-qualifying teams, Cupertino senior Xi-Len Yeh (17:07), Homestead sophomore Rishi Agrawal (17:10) and Lynbrook senior Luis Jensen (17:11), also will represent the DAL at CCS. Cupertino freshman Mrinal Bedi, who finished 18th in 17:14.2, just missed qualifying for the section meet.

In the boys frosh-soph field of 141 runners, Monta Vista claimed five of the top six places. Matador junior Craig Kawashima (17:55) was the individual champion. Monta Vista freshmen Sante Kotturi (17:41) and Thomas Bill (17:46) placed third and fifth, respectively, in the frosh-soph boys race.

Rosa Ng, a Monta Vista sophomore, outpaced 60 other runners in winning the girls junior varsity championship. Her time was 20:31.

QB Dias guides Mats

Monta Vista, directed by strong-armed senior quarterback Jason Dias, celebrated Senior Night on Nov. 5 with a 21-3 triumph over Fremont.

Dias passed for two touchdowns against the Firebirds, a 35-yarder to Jeff Clewett and a 22-yarder to Garrett McManus. Jarrod Burdett recovered a fumble in the end zone for the Matadors' third score.

Dias has thrown 12 of his 17 touchdown passes this season in the past five games.

"Since about the third game of the season, Jason has really taken charge of our offense," praised coach Jeff Mueller.

Dias had entered the game on a roll. In each of the previous two games he had thrown for three touchdowns and more than 200 yards.

In a 38-20 win over Cupertino, Dias helped spoil the Pioneers' homecoming with touchdown tosses to fellow seniors Clewett, Kevin Baugh and McManus. Taylor Oberhelman added touchdown runs of 25 and 10 yards, and Ben Lovelace kicked a 25-yard field goal to go with five PATs.

A week earlier, during a 38-29 loss to Mountain View, Dias fired three touchdown passes, including a 43-yarder to sophomore Marcus Woo. Oberhelman scored two touchdowns in that game also, one rushing and one receiving.

After finishing El Camino Division play 3-3, the Matadors (3-5-1 overall) close the season at Palo Alto on Nov. 11.

Just as teams need to stop Dias when they play Monta Vista, they need to stop running back Bronson Farr when they play Cupertino.

Lynbrook, whose best effort was a tough 16-13 loss to Los Altos on Oct. 23, likely need to do that Friday night at Cupertino in order to avert a winless season. The Pioneers enter the game 1-4 in league and 2-7 overall, following a 50-0 loss to Mountain View.

Farr entered the Mountain View game with 1,294 yards and 56 points, including 129 yards and two touchdowns against Monta Vista. A week earlier Farr packed the ball 27 times against Santa Clara for 186 yards and two touchdowns.

Homestead (1-4, 5-4) hopes to close the season on a positive note after suffering a 55-0 defeat to Palo Alto. However, the Mustangs face the large task of playing at Los Gatos, Nov.12 at 7:30 p.m. Los Gatos clinched the De Anza crown with a 35-35 tie against Milpitas.

The Mustangs committed six turnovers in the lopsided loss to Paly last week.