The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Pioneers, Mustangs chase swim titles

Homestead clinches volleyball crown

By MIKE BARNHART

As swimmers from seven high schools converge on the Fremont pool this week for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division championship meet, an extra dose of motivation will fuel Cupertino's boys and Homestead's girls. Both squads will be looking to finish the job they started during the dual meet season to capture team crowns.

"The boys head into league championships tied for first place, and they are hoping to end at the top," explained Cupertino coach Mike West, after the Pioneers closed the dual meet season with a 109-34 over Fremont on April 27.

Derrik Jarvis zipped to firsts in both short sprints and led off a pair of relays for the Pioneers. Teammate Martin Chuang won the 500 and helped the victorious 200 and 400 free relay teams. William Tran, Stephen Fisher and Brad Matsushita were other event winners for the Pioneers. Jarvis, Alex Calderon, Albert Arustamov and Garrett Foo teamed up to take the medley relay. Johnway Yih and Tim Lordan joined Fisher and Chuang on the 200 free relay.

The Pioneers' only division defeat was to Los Gatos back in March. Meanwhile, the Wildcats lost their grip on first place when they slipped at Homestead last week, 91-79. So, both teams finished 5-1 in dual meets.

"The tiebreaker goes to the winner of the championship meet," West said. "It looks to be a really close contest between us, Los Gatos, Homestead and Milpitas."

Fremont, Santa Clara and Wilcox are the other entrants. Boys trials are set for May 3, while the girls trials are the next day. Finals for boys and girls will take place on May 5. Action begins each day at 2:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Lynbrook and Monta Vista will be among the seven teams competing at Palo Alto High in the De Anza Division meet, which will follow the same schedule.

The SCVAL actually determines team swimming champions with a point system that awards teams based on their final standings in dual meets and at the league meet. Most of the time, the regular season champ scores the most points at the league meet.

Homestead, which dropped down from the De Anza Division after a rough time in 2005, won all of its dual meets to gain the upper hand over the other girls teams. The Mustangs improved to 6-0 last week by topping previously unbeaten Los Gatos, 102-78.

"The girls have done a good job," praised second-year coach Shelly Hopkins, who tries not to get too excited about wins and losses. "It's most important that the girls have fun and improve."

Junior Michelle Camburn, one of four Mustangs that have qualified in the 500-yard freestyle for the Central Coast Section Championship (May 12-13 at Stanford), placed first in four events against Los Gatos. She won the 500 and the 200 individual medley, and she swam legs of the victorious 200 and 400 relay units.

Senior Megan Meadows, junior Emily Pool and freshman Kristen Peanasky, the Mustangs' other CCS qualifiers in the 500, joined Camburn on the 400 free relay unit against Los Gatos. In the 200 relay, senior Yoshiko Shimizu, freshman Lisa Yao and sophomore Alysha Ungson preceded Camburn.

Mustangs clinch title

Homestead's boys volleyball team racked up two more victories last week, including a three-game sweep of defending co-champion Los Gatos on April 27. With the 25-21, 25-23, 25-18 triumph over the visiting Wildcats, the Mustangs earned themselves no worse than a tie for the SCVAL championship.

Leading the Homestead attack were setter Ryan Bridge and huge middle blockers Sam Kridl (6-foot-9) and Ryan Dedrick (6-foot-7), along with hitters Luke Rosener (12 kills) and Weston Buckner (nine).

They entered this week's action with an unblemished 12-0 record in league play and an impressive 23-4 overall mark. More importantly, coach Matt Hoffman's Mustangs held a two-game lead over Los Gatos (10-2, 27-5) with just two games left on the SCVAL schedule.

Only one win is needed in this week's matches to secure an outright title. The Mustangs were to play at Saratoga on May 2 and at home against Mountain View on May 4. The Mustangs most likely will receive a very high seed and a first-round home game when the 16-team CCS championship tournament begins on May 11.

Teams storm dry fields

After so much unseasonal weather, area baseball and softball teams are finally getting on with their season. In fact, many baseball teams played four games last week, and Lynbrook's baseball team played five. And games will abound again this week, as teams scurry to make up games prior to the May 13 seeding meeting for the CCS playoffs.

When the dust on the baseball diamonds had settled, Homestead lost three of four El Camino games, but still stood tall at 7-3. Fremont was 7-5, after splitting a pair with the Mustangs and beating Monta Vista, 10-2. Lynbrook (3-9) won twice behind the play of seniors Adam Khan and Mike Reid, and the Matadors (3-9) got a 5-3 win over Homestead in eight innings. Meanwhile, Cupertino (4-8) picked up a De Anza win, 9-4, over Mountain View, as Aaron Headrick hurled a complete game.

In softball, Cupertino (8-0) remained unbeaten in the El Camino Division, while Monta Vista (6-1), Lynbrook (6-1) and Homestead (7-2) separated themselves from the De Anza pack. In key upcoming games, Lynbrook hosts Homestead on May 5 and Monta Vista the next day.