Saratoga's Anne Ricketts will run into another CCS championship meet on Friday. The talented senior has qualified for CCS in two events.




Photograph by Brian Prince






Ricketts returns to CCS

Prospect's Kim Kelly dives to 9th place at CCS championships

By Dick Sparrer

Powerful T.J. Aimonetti of Westmont and distance star Annie Ricketts of Saratoga will lead the contingent of local athletes into the Central Coast Section track and field championships coming up May 28 at San Jose City College.

Aimonetti, a fifth-place finisher in the CCS semi-finals in the shot put, will be in the throwing circle for the Warriors when the field events get under way at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Ricketts, third in the 3,200 meters and fifth in the 1,600 in the girls semi's last weekend, will be on the oval when the track events take the starting gun at 6 p.m.

Ricketts was third in the 3,200 in 11:21.41 and added a fifth in the 1,600 in 5:06.97 to secure another trip to the CCS finals.

Ricketts will be joined by teammates Laura Birenbaum, who was fifth in the girls 100-meter hurdles in 15.30, and Alex Daniels, who was second in the boys 800 meters in 1:59.00.

Aimonetti will be Westmont's lone representative at the CCS finals. The powerful Warrior heaved the shot put 51-81Ž2 to nail fifth at the semi's.

Lynbrook's Barrett Bryson, seventh in the boys triple jump at 43-4 1/2, and Kim Gleason, seventh in both the girls shot put at 34-10 and discus at 110-2, will also compete at CCS.

Kelly dives to 9th

There wasn't a strong showing for local schools at the CCS swimming and diving championships held last week at Santa Clara International Swim Center. But some individuals did shine in the swimming spotlight.

Prospect sophomore Kim Kelly made it to the CCS diving finals with a strong showing in the prelims. She ended up ninth overall with 372.80 points.

Kimberly Gorski, a sophomore from Westmont, finished 16th in the diving event with 340.05 points.

There were no local swimmers in the CCS finals, but some did place in the consolation division.

Girls placing in consolation races were: Erin Schindler of Lynbrook, 16th in the 50 free; Teresa Marales of Prospect, 14th in the 100 butterfly; Samara Silverman of Lynbrook, 15th in the 100 free; and Cecilia Dotzler of Saratoga, 11th in the 500 free.

Lynbrook's 200 free relay team was 14th in the consolation division in 1:45.24. Team members included Tami Norman, Nicole Morasky, Eva Nemirovsky and Schindler.

Boys placing in consolation races were Scott Anderson of Lynbrook, 14th in the IM; and Bo Cross of Prospect, 14th in the 100 breaststroke.

The Lynbrook foursome of Anderson, Kevin Eng, Yuji Okamura and Alex Lee finished 10th in the consolation 200 free relay, and Anderson, Eng, A. Lee and Lawrence Lee finished 12th in the consolation 400 free.

Prospect senior divers Robert Long and Wayne Austin each placed in the top 25 at CCS. Long was 22nd overall with 122.25 points in the preliminaries, with Austin 25th at 112.80.

Warriors eighth

The Westmont golf team, champions of the Blossom Valley Athletic League and second in the CCS regionals at Rancho Cañada, finished eighth at the CCS team finals played last week.

Junior Marc Christiansen starred for the Warriors in the post-season when he placed second in the BVAL finals at Riverside with a four-over par 75 to lead the Westmont effort.

Senior Mike Vivona tied for seventh overall with a 78, and junior Eric Larsen was close behind, tying for ninth with a 79.

The Warriors finished second to Palma at the regionals. Palma recorded 369 strokes to claim the regional crown with Westmont second (391) and Bellarmine third (395).

Westmont finished well behind the leaders to settle for eighth at the CCS finals at Laguna Seca last week. Larsen led the Warriors with a 90, followed by freshman Conner McDonald at 92, senior Chris Carviero at 93, senior Phil Miyano at 94, Christiansen at 95 and Vivona at 97.

Vafaei wins qualifier

Mani Vafaei of Prospect had to settle for third place in the league finals, but the Panthers tennis ace more than made up for that finish with a championship in the CCS individual qualifier last week.

Vafaei handled Rajiv Batra of Leland 7-5, 7-5 in the semi-finals, then won by injury default over Henry Chau of Piedmont Hills in the finals to win a place in the CCS tournament that begins May 25 at the Imperial Courts.

Vafaei opened play in the tournament in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League with a 6-4, 6-1 win over an Oak Grove opponent, but lost 6-0, 6-2 to a Santa Teresa foe in the semi-finals. Vafaei came back with a 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) win in the third-place match to clinch third in the division.

He advanced to the CCS qualifying tournament and finished first to qualify for the CCS finals May 25-27.

Falcons fall

The Saratoga tennis team opened the CCS Division II tournament with an easy 5-2 win over Palma, but the Falcons fell a match later to powerful Menlo 7-0.

Ashvin Soin and Jason Hou won their singles matches, and the Falcons swept in doubles play to pull out the victory over Palma.

Soin posted a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles, and Hou won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3.

Amit Modi and James Chao teamed for a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles, Scott Swanberg and Justin Sung won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, and Andy Tzou and Kenneth Rhow won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 to help the Falcons sweep to the victory.

Brian Doore lost a tough 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 decision at No. 1 singles, and Mark Hsu fell 7-5, 7-5 at No. 4.

Saratoga ended the season at 15-8 after a 7-0 loss to unbeaten Menlo a match later. Menlo went on to win three straight to take the CCS Division II title, then beat Jesuit 6-1 to win the Northern California crown.

Menlo finished the year 21-0.

Saratoga's Memorial Arch

Donations boost education programs

Family Daze

Saratoga Sampler

Sports Briefs

High school sports

High school baseball

Community college baseball

Baseball school at SCU

Badminton summer camp

Searching for former football all-stars