The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Matadors' Fang nails second at league finals

By Kevin Sparrer

Some athletic events require great feats of strength, but for Alan Menezes of the Saratoga cross country team it was a great strength of feet that drove him and his team to take second place in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League at the finals held at Crystal Springs on Oct. 30.

The Saratoga junior finished the 2.95-mile run in 15:52, which was fast enough for third place overall behind Michael Johnson and Dylan Shawhan of Los Gatos.

Finishing behind the Falcons was Cupertino in third place as a team. Cupertino was led by senior Abi Gebrekristos (sixth, 15:58) who trailed Dane Sawyer of Los Gatos by only two seconds. Next for the Pioneers was junior Stas Rumyantsev (11th, 16:44) and sophomore Max Pommier (12th, 16:50). Completing the scoring were senior Mrinal Bedi (16th, 16:58) and sophomore Dennis Rong (39th, 18:21).

Homestead ended up fourth as a team at the finals. The Mustangs were led by their lead horse, junior Nick Oliver (fourth, 15:54). Following Oliver were senior Alexander Colbeth (seventh, 16:29), sophomore Nikky Louthan (21st, 17:11), senior Robert Mack (28th, 17:32) and senior Sameer Tharakan (30th, 17:39).

After the Mustangs came Monta Vista in fifth place in the De Anza Division finals. The leader for the Matadors was Kranti Peddada (15th, 16:55). After Peddada came Yu Hsiao (18th, 17:05) and Michael Laccabue (22nd, 17:13). Only two seconds later came Daniel Siebel Cortopa (24th, 17:15) and then Yutaro Okuda (25th, 17:19) after only four more seconds.

Lynbrook completed the race after Monta Vista, finishing sixth in the division. The Vikings were led by Eric Surprenant (19th, 17:10), followed by Gene Burinskiy (26th, 17:19), A.J. Flint (27th, 17:23), Amrit Subramanian (32nd, 17:45) and Chris Carter (35th, 18:01).

The girls varsity results were similar to the boys with Los Gatos coming out on top behind the efforts of Kaela Townsend, but it was Lynbrook who followed the Wildcats with a second-place finish.

Leading the Vikings was Cindy Huang (sixth, 19:14). Next were Lauren Tang (seventh, 19:15), Chianna Wang (13th, 20:30), Kristen Bryson (20th, 20:55) and Michelle Yee (24th, 21:07).

Homestead came next in the run, finishing third as a team with Emily Evans (third, 18:37) leading the effort. Laura Pochowski (14th, 20:34) was the second Mustang finisher, followed by Alissa Hayes (18th, 20:51), Rachel Holl (21st, 21:00) and Karla Salgado (28th, 21:22).

Behind Homestead was Saratoga in fourth place as a team. Katie Nast (fifth, 19:03) flew in front for the Falcons. Karen Wai (12th, 20:09) was the second Falcon to finish and was followed by Christine La (23rd, 21:05), Katrin Cooper (25th, 21:08) and Jan Iyer.

Monta Vista was fifth with Jean Feng (second, 18:31) coming in shortly behind Townsend. Kelli Sum (19th, 20:55) was next for the Matadors, before Sharanya Shankar (22nd, 21:02), Stacie Herda (27th, 21:11) and Kay Poon (30th, 21:36).

Sixth in the De Anza Division was Cupertino. Sumika Shiokawa (fourth, 18:51) led the Pioneers with Cecilia Wu (16th, 20:38), Melissa Gomez (38th, 23:17), Ladane Rongere (39th, 23:46) and Kristin Wong (40th, 26:09) rounding out the top five.

CCS meet

The Central Coast Section finals will be held at Crystal Springs on Nov. 10. The first run of the day will be the Division III boys at 10 a.m.