Westmont senior Ashley Carrothers blocks a hit by June-June Shih of Del Mar in last week's win for the Warriors.




Photograph by Paul Myers







Saratoga runs to SCVAL crown

Kraemer leads Falcons with individual title

By Dick Sparrer

Marshall Clark's teams have done some remarkable things during his many years as a track and cross country coach in the Santa Clara Valley.

But the Saratoga coach would be hard pressed to recall a more memorable season than the one his Falcons are having right now.

Saratoga's boys romped to the league title and the girls ran to a solid fourth-place finish at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals held last Tuesday at Crystal Springs in Belmont.

Superstar senior Will Kraemer won the individual crown in the boys varsity race, covering the 2.95-mile course in 15:41. Teammate David La, also a senior, was second in 16:22.

Freshman Alicia Follmar had an outstanding day, finishing second in the girls varsity race in 19:03, and sophomore Steven Surrette was second in 18:15 to lead the boys frosh-soph squad to a team third.

"It was a big day for the Falcon runners," said Clark. "This is a season to remember with pride."

But the season's not over yet. The top varsity performers will go on to the Central Coast Section meet Nov. 10 at Crystal Springs, and Kraemer should figure among the leaders in the boys division.

Kraemer and La were the top two finishers at the league meet and topped a list of four Falcons in the top 10. Brett Stanger was fourth in 16:42, and Richard La was eighth in 17:01. Not far behind was Trevor Adams, who finished 11th in 17:12 to round out the top five for the Falcons. All five are seniors.

Follmar starred for the Saratoga girls with her second-place finish. Sophomore Josie Chan ended up 18th in 20:39 with soph Irene Fan 23rd in 21:16, freshman Parson Saffai 26th in 21:35 and soph Jackie Molzon 31st in 22:02.

The Saratoga girls finished behind St. Francis, Los Gatos and Monta Vista in the team standings.

The Falcons finished behind only Los Gatos and Monta Vista in the boys frosh-soph division, thanks to Surrette's second-place effort. Conway Teng was 11th in 19:01 with Joe Yeh 16th in 19:19, Hari Subramaniam 24th in 19:50 and Eric Hwang 29th in 20:10.

Anjali Kumar led the Saratoga girls junior varsity to a team third behind St. Francis and Monta Vista. Kumar finished 14th in 22:40.

Anna Aura was 17th in 22:43 with Natalie Ku 18th in 22:46, Claire Tero 23rd in 23:02 and Sunita Kumar 47th in 24:41.

Max Tam was eighth in 19:22 to lead the Saratoga JV boys to a team third. Jacob Osborne was 15th in 19:53 with Daniel Young 17th in 20:05, Randy Sciallaba 24th in 20:46 and Lawrence Hui 26th in 21:03.

Zelinski leads Panthers

Danielle Zelinski and Rebecca Palm of Prospect each romped to top-25 finishes when the teams of the Blossom Valley Athletic League got together for their league meet last Monday at Crystal Springs.

Zelinski, a senior, was 24th in 21:12 to lead the Prospect showing at the meet. Palm, a freshman, was close behind in 25th in 21:15.

Prospect's Edina Hamulic was 55th in 23:12 with Jenny Jackson of Westmont 59th in 23:14.

Westmont's Josey Hoult was 60th in 23:16 with Sosina Telda 64th in 23:28 and Liz Medicott 71st in 23:43.

In boys action, Austin Day was 51st in 18:16 to lead Prospect to a team 13th at the finals.

Anthony Lin was 67th in 18:36 for the Panthers with Danny Soloman 78th in 18:51.

Westmont sophomore Andrew Tupper finished 68th in 18:37 with Bo Tran 82nd in 19:01 to lead the Warriors to a team 16th.

Seniors celebrate

The seniors at Westmont celebrated a 15-11, 15-2, 15-0 win over Del Mar in girls volleyball action in the Santa Teresa Division last week.

It was senior night at Westmont, and the Warriors enjoyed the night by beating the Dons three straight. Westmont came back later in the week to handle Leigh 6-15, 15-6, 15-7, 15-0 to finish the season 7-7 in the division and 16-21 for the year.

Seniors playing their final regular season match for the Warriors were Ashley Carrothers, Megan Rogers, Stefani Carver, Deanna Fillhover and DeAnna Negrete.

The Dons rebounded from the loss to the Warriors to finish the year with a 15-7, 15-9, 15-6 win over Overfelt. Del Mar ended the year with a 4-10 league record.

Over at Prospect, the Panthers finished league play 4-10 in the Mt. Hamilton Division thanks to a clutch 7-15, 7-15, 15-4, 15-10, 15-11 win over Oak Grove. Cassie Gilford had 21 kills for the Panthers in the win.

Prospect, 8-20 for the year, had lost to unbeaten Mitty 15-2, 15-2, 15-5 earlier in the week. Randy Gillespie was the kill leaders for the Panthers in that match.

Girls water polo

Cristina Behrens and Andrea Evans of Saratoga each won all-tournament honors for the Falcons at the Halloween Classic girls water polo tournament at Lincoln High School recently.

The Falcons ended up second to Soquel in the A Division at the tournament, losing in the finals 10-7.

Saratoga outscored Presentation 4-2 in the final quarter to snap a 3-3 tie and pull out a 7-5 win over the Panthers to open the tourney.

Courtney Crase poured in four goals in the win for the Falcons and Behrens, and Evans and Heide Cruikshank added one each.

The Falcons came back with a 6-5 overtime win over St. Ignatius to advance to the finals. But Saratoga lost 10-7 to Soquel in the championship game.

Saratoga pounded Homestead 15-2 and whipped Monta Vista 16-2 in recent games in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL.

Behrens pitched in six goals and Crase netted five to lead the Falcons past the Mustangs. Evans, Sarah Nakaji, Kori Shih and Lisa Lewis added a goal each.

Behrens and Crase popped five goals apiece and Evans added four in the 16-2 win over the Matadors. Cruikshank and Annie Dao scored a goal each.

The Falcons ended up in third place at the league tournament last week. Saratoga lost 12-6 to Palo Alto in the semifinals, but came back with a thrilling 11-10 overtime win over Gunn in the third-place game.

Crase buried seven goals and Behrens added two to lead the Falcons past the Titans. Evans and Shih also scored in the win.

Crase popped four goals and Behrens and Shih had one apiece, but the Falcons lost 12-6 to the Vikings in the semi's. Paly ended up losing 9-4 to St. Francis in the league championship game.

Boys water polo

David Gribi and Justin Lerman combined for 17 goals in three games, but the Saratoga boys water polo team could manage just a single win in action in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL.

Gribi drilled five goals and Lerman popped four in a 10-8 win over Los Gatos. It was Saratoga's first win in league play.

Gribi had three goals and Lerman added one in a 9-5 loss to Lynbrook, and Lerman had three goals and Gribi hit one in a 13-4 loss to Monta Vista.

The Falcons ended up fifth in the league tournament, losing their final game 11-7 to Gunn. Gribi led Saratoga with four goals and Lerman was close behind with three.

Girls golf

Grace Hsu of Saratoga fired a 6-over par 78 to tie for fifth place at the Central Coast Section golf championships held last week at Rancho Cañada.

Hsu had fired an 85 on the par-71 Poplar Creek course a week earlier to finish fifth at the CCS qualifier.

Field hockey

It's been a tough couple of weeks for the girls field hockey team at Saratoga.

The Falcons lost 2-0 to Lynbrook, 4-1 to St. Francis, 1-0 to Mitty and 2-0 to Willow Glen to slip to 0-10 in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

The only goal the Falcons could manage in the four games was a solo marker by senior Rachel O'Gara in the 4-1 loss to the Lancers last week.

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