Saratoga News Daniels, Ricketts run to victories By Dick Sparrer Alex Daniels and Anne Ricketts hope their performances are an indication of things to come. Daniels and Ricketts each ran to victories for the Saratoga cross-country team in the Center Meet on Oct. 22 on the hilly 2.95-mile course at Crystal Springs in Belmont. That was Saratoga's final appearance on the Crystal Springs course until the De Anza Division championships set for Nov. 3. Daniels won the boys varsity race in 16:27, leading the Falcons to a title in the 25-team field. Luke Anderson was second in 17:12 for the Falcons, with Jake Chirstopherson fifth in 17:26 and Jeff Beyers sixth in 17:43. David La was 11th in 18:11, with Richard La 17th in 18:18. Ricketts breezed to a win in the girls varsity race. She covered the 2.95 miles in 19:10. Laura Lin was ninth in 22:05, with Elissa Dines 12th in 22:16, Dernie Wang 18th in 22:35, MiMi Choi 19th in 22:43 and Jenny Yoo 20th in 22:46. David Lin was first in 19:27 to lead the Saratoga boys junior varsity to a team championship. David Yin was second in 19:32, with Kevin Higgins third in 19:40, Warren Wong fourth in 20:00 and Michael Nguyen sixth in 20:31. Saratoga also won the team title in the boys' sophomore race. Michael Teng was second in 19:01, with Jesse Alejandro fourth in 19:11, David Cheng fifth in 19:12, Tony Yiu sixth in 19:20 and Devon Lui 11th in 19:46. Justin Gardner ran 18:57 to finish sixth in the boys freshman race, with Brett Stanger ninth in 19:21 and Michael Bryan 19th in 20:11. Saratoga will now prepare for the Lynbrook Invitational, a 2.1-mile race set for Oct. 29 at Lynbrook. While the Falcons competed at Crystal Springs, Westmont was runninng at the St. Francis Invitational at Foothill College. Tasin Fetto led the Westmont effort, finishing sixth in the boys junior class race in 17:37 on the three-mile course. In other local cross-country action, the Prospect girls improved to 5-0 in league competition with wins over Leigh (20-43), Oak Grove (18-45) and Yerba Buena (20-43). Laura Kniskern led the Panthers to the wins over Oak Grove and YB by finishing third in the league race. Kniskern covered the 2.53-mile course at Santa Teresa Park in 19:03. Elizabeth Giles was fifth overall in 19:46, with Alison Prehn seventh in 20:00 and Kristi Cangiamilla ninth in 20:15. A week later, Kniskern recorded a 21:42 on a 2.9-mile course at Vasona Park to finish fifth overall in the league race. Giles was eighth in 22:41, with Cangiamilla 10th in 22:53 to lead the Panthers past the Longhorns. The Westmont girls lost to Oak Grove (25-30) and Yerba Buena (26-29) the same day, but Claire Doyle starred for the Warriors, finishing sixth in 22:32 at Vasona. In boys competition the same day, Fetto was fifth in 17:33 to lead Westmont to a 23-32 win over Yerba Buena. The Warriors lost a 27-28 heartbreaker to Oak Grove. Tight polo wins Both Saratoga water polo teams pulled out victories by the slimmest of margins last week. The Saratoga boys nailed a tight 7-6 win over Lynbrook in De Anza Division of the SCVAL, and the Saratoga girls clinched a close 8-7 win over Cupertino in El Camino Division play. Collin Mitchell pitched in three goals and Gur Doitel supported with two to lead the Saratoga boys to the win. Jordan Jones and Chris Cappello also scored for the Falcons. The clubs were scoreless after a period, and the Vikings led 2-1 at the half. But Saratoga took a 5-4 lead after three quarters, then matched Lynbrook's two goals in the fourth to win by one. Saratoga is now 4-1 in division play and 11-9 for the year. Cari Cowdrey's five goals sparked the Saratoga girls to a tight 8-7 win over Cupertino last week. Kim Ashburn chipped in with two goals for the Falcons. Saratoga jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period and led 4-2 at the half. But Cupertino matched the Falcons with two goals in the third. But Saratoga broke the tie by outscoring the Pioneers 4-3 in the fourth quarter to win it by one. Saratoga is now 7-0 in division play. Warriors second The Westmont girls volleyball team ended up in second place in the Silver Division at the Milpitas Spikefest last weekend. The Warriors lost 16-14, 0-15, 15-11 to Notre Dame-Salinas in the division championship game. Westmont had beaten Saratoga 16-14, 8-15, 15-6 earlier in the tournament. Saratoga ended up sixth in the tourney, losing to Sacred Heart Prep 16-14, 15-7 in the fifth-place match. In regular season play last week, Saratoga split in a pair of matches in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL. The Falcons lost to Wilcox 7-15, 15-13, 12-15, 15-12, 15-6, but beat Mountain View 15-3, 15-3, 15-7. The Falcons are now 6-4 in division play. Westmont slipped to 5-4 in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League after losing 15-6, 15-10, 15-5 to Silver Creek. Meyer hits three Sophomore forward Keala Meyer knocked in three goals in two games to lead the Saratoga girls field hockey team to a win and a tie last week in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL. Meyer knocked in a first-half goal off a Ashley Ferriera assist to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead at intermission against Homestead, but the Mustangs came back with a goal in the second half to pull out a 1-1 tie to open the week. Saratoga was up 1-0 at the half later in the week against Cupertino, but the Falcons made sure they didn't suffer the same fate two matches in a row. Saratoga destroyed Cupertino 4-1 in the second half to claim a 5-1 victory. Meyer scored two goals in the win, both off assists from Ferriera. Betsy Masiello scored off another Ferriera assist, and Kristy Mincey scored off a Tina Lai assist. Kelly Lapinski also scored in the Saratoga win. The Falcons are now 5-1-2 in the division and 8-2-2 for the year. In other local action, Prospect split a pair of decisions in the Mt. Hamilton Division, beating Leigh 3-0 before losing to Los Gatos 3-0. The Panthers are now 2-3-1 in the division and 5-4-1 for the year. Westmont lost 3-0 to St. Francis in the West Valley Division of the BVAL before tying Del Mar 2-2. The Warriors at 2-1-3. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 28, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.