Ricketts, Teerlink lead Falcons into Top 8 meet

By Dick Sparrer

The Central Coast Section track and field champions won't be crowned until May 28 at San Jose City College.

But Los Gatos will present a preview of that event on April 23 when the top track athletes in the area go for the gold at the annual CCS Top 8 Track Classic on the Gatos oval.

The athletes with the top eight marks in each event are invited to participate in the Friday evening meet that features competition in the boys and girls varsity divisions and the boys frosh-soph group.

Anne Ricketts tops the list of Saratoga athletes who have qualified for the Top 8 meet. The talented senior distance runner for the Falcons boasts the second-best time of the year in CCS in the 1,600 meters in 5:10.9 and owns the third-best time in the 3,200 meters in 10:56.55.

Taylor Teerlink (300 hurdles) will join Ricketts as a Saratoga competitor in the meet.

Allison Prehn of Prospect has qualified for the CCS Top 8 meet in two events in the girls varsity division. Prehn will compete in the long jump and triple jump.

Ricketts stars

Ricketts is coming off of a sensational showing at the rugged Arcadia Invitational. Top athletes from the United States and Canada were in the field for the tough meet on April 10.

Ricketts finished 12th in the 3,200 meters, setting a new school record in 10:56.55.

Frosh-Soph Classic

The top young track and field athletes in the Central Coast Section got together for the 20th annual Frosh-Soph Classic at Los Gatos on April 9.

Anna-Maria Owens starred for Prospect with a pair of individual victories, and Sal Washington also ran to a win for the Panthers.

Owens was a winner in the shot put with a heave of 33-41/2, and she was first in the discus with a toss of 105-6.

Lynbrook's Kim Gleason also placed in both the weights, finishing fourth in the discus at 92-4 and fifth in the shot put at 31-51/2.

Prospect's Danielle Zelinski was sixth in the 800 meters in 2:31.3 and seventh in the 400 meters in 65.49.

Meg Gibson and Ashley Mamola each placed for Westmont at the Classic. Gibson tied for fifth in the 200 meters in 28.04, and Mamola was eighth in the 100-meter high hurdles in 19.26.

Saratoga's 400-meter relay team was ninth overall in 54.56.

Washington was a standout for the Prospect boys at the Classic, winning the 400 in 52.18 and nailing second in the 200 meters in 23.31.

David Cheng of Saratoga ran well at the meet. Cheng was fourth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 43.03 and fifth in the 65-meter highs in 9.8.

Rich La was sixth in the 800 meters in 2:05.74 for the Falcons, Jim Cummins was seventh in the discus for Saratoga with a toss of 117-7, and the Falcons were eighth in the 400 relay in 46.25.

Classic Placers

Alex Daniels of Saratoga breezed to a 1:59.63 to win the 800-meter run at the rugged Hampton-Phillips Classic at Silver Creek last weekend.

The meet, named for former Olympians Millard Hampton and Andre Phillips, who both competed at Silver Creek, attracted many of the state's top high school track and field competitors.

Daniels topped a list of local placers that included Matt Hovik of Homestead, third in the 3,200 meters in 9:53.18, and T.J. Aimonetti of Westmont, fourth in the shot put at 48-3. In girls competition, Prehn was second in the long jump at 16-81/2, and Owens was fourth in the discus at 105-2.

Falcons fall

The Saratoga varsity squads both lost to Cupertino in recent dual-meet competition in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Teerlink nailed wins in the 100 hurdles in 16.3, the 300 hurdles in 49.6 and the triple jump at 30-31/4, but the Saratoga girls lost 65-61 to the Pioneers.

Heather Finnecy was first in the discus at 92-0, Ashley Whishant was a winner in the high jump at 4-2 and Ricketts took the 800 meters in 2:26.3 for Saratoga's only other wins of the day.

Courtney Miyamoto (1,600), Ashley Ferreira (400), Bridget Rutgers (discus), Jamieson Pfeifer (200), Karin Bencala (shot put), Elissa Dines (3,200), Kari Johnstone (triple jump) and Yasemin Denari (high jump) each placed second for the Falcons, and Aubrey Weger (400), Pfeifer (100), Johnstone (long jump), Bencala (discus), Adrienne Osborne (200) and Dernie Wang (3,200/800) were each third.

Daniels was a double winner for the Saratoga boys, but they lost 77-50 to Cupertino.

Daniels took the 1,600 in 4:32.6 and the 800 in 2:01.3 for the Falcons.

Josh Glasser was first in the 100 in 11.4 and third in the 200 in 23.9, and David Cheng won the 300 intermediate hurdles in 42.6 and took third in the 110 highs in 16.5.

Ian Jang took the long jump at 19-31/4, and Andrew Bosworth was second in both the 100 in 11.6 and the 200 in 23.7 and third in the high jump at 5-2.

Eric Giannella was second in both the discus at 117-0 and the shot put at 38-0, Alex Shoor was second in the 3,200 in 10:50.7, Joseph Carter was second in the 800 in 2:02.6, Jess Alejandro was second in the 400 in 54.7 and Jeff Beyers was third in the 3,200 in 10:53.9.

The Saratoga boys lost 67-58 to Cupertino in the boys frosh-soph division, despite wins by Edward Tseng in the 400, James Lii in the 100, La in the 800 and Lawrence Blair in the 300 hurdles.

Speed City Invitational

The Speed City Track Club Invitational meet will be held May 1-2 at Los Gatos High School for boys and girls ages 8-16. Field events begin at 8 a.m., with running events getting under way at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $4 per event or $16 per relay. For more information, call Cliff Scott at 448-9069.

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