Saratoga News

Photograph by Aaron Swozzi

Westmont's Serena Delaplace accepts a medal earlier in the year.

Ricketts runs to league title

By Dick Sparrer

Everyone knew that Los Gatos was the favorite heading into the De Anza Athletic League cross- country finals.

But that didn't keep Saratoga and Cupertino from winning titles.

Oh, the Wildcats dominated in the team competition, sweeping all five team championships in the competition. But the Falcons and Pioneers were able to run off with titles--individual titles in the two varsity divisions.

Anne Ricketts of Saratoga and Dan McDonough of Cupertino raced to individual championships on the 2.95-mile course at Crystal Springs in Belmore.

By winning the titles, the two De Anza runners figure among the individual favorites at the upcoming Central Coast Section championships. The CCS finals will be held Nov. 16 on the same Crystal Springs course.

McDonough covered the distance in 15:48 to finish nine seconds ahead of Joseph Carter of Los Gatos in last week's boys' final, and Ricketts finished in 19:05 to nose out Sarah McAleer of Los Gatos at the finish gate.

Ricketts and McAleer actually stopped the watch at the same second, but the Saratoga sophomore managed to win by just a foot.

All in all, it was quite a day for the Falcons. Not only did Ricketts win an individual title, but Saratoga's girls qualified for the CCS Division IV finals, and the Falcons finished in the top three in the team standings in three other divisions.

The only disappointment for Saratoga was a fifth-place finish in the boys' varsity division.

"The varsity boys ended the season with a heartbreaking fifth place, three points out of qualifying," Saratoga coach Marshall Clark said after the finals.

Still, Hank Nothhaft and Drew Copeland finished well enough to earn individual spots in the CCS meet.

Nothhaft was ninth in 16:48, and Copeland ended up 11th in 17:06 to lead the Saratoga effort in the varsity race.

Alex Daniels finished 17th in 17:30, with Ori Benhamou 24th in 18:01, Alex Shoor 26th in 18:15 and Brett Pahler 30th in 18:24.

The Falcons ended up three points behind Cupertino in the team standings. Gatos won the title with 37 points with Homestead second at 57, Monta Vista third at 82, Cupertino fourth at 84 and Saratoga fifth at 87.

But the story of the day for the Falcons was really Ricketts. She opened up with a 6:08 first mile and led all the way, holding off McAleer in the final stretch to clinch the win. Ricketts ran a personal best to get the victory.

Jenny Yoo finished 18th in 21:47 with Justine Lam 25th in 22:32, and Joan Cheng 30th in 22:40. Lam and Cheng ran personal bests. Stephanie Sun was 36th in 23:24, with Miranda Sun 37th in 23:50 and Susan Song 41st in 25:16.

Saratoga finished fourth overall to clinch a CCS berth. Los Gatos ran up a low 22 points to take the league title, with St. Francis second at 65, Monta Vista third at 89 and Saratoga fourth at 102. Cupertino was a close fifth at 103.

Nobuaki Tomine, Luke Anderson and Eric Shan each won all-league honors by finishing in the top 10 to lead the Saratoga boys to a second-place finish in the frosh-soph division.

Tomine was fourth in a personal best 18:07, with Anderson seventh in 18:25 and Shan eighth in 18:28, also a personal best. Nicholas Lin finished 18th in 19:32 with David Yin 21st in a personal best 19:35.

Los Gatos won the frosh-soph crown with 31 points. Saratoga was second at 54 with Monta Vista third at 59.

Eric Cherng finished sixth in 18:53, and Kevin Sheu finished eighth in 19:05 to lead the Saratoga boys to third in the junior varsity division. Both times were personal bests.

David Wilson was 11th in 19:41, with Erik Peterson 14th in 19:52 and Steve Teng 16th in 20:01.

Los Gatos won the j.v. title, with Monta Vista second and Saratoga third.

In the girls' junior varsity division, Eilene Ozawa was 16th in 23:37 and Laura Prolo was 17th in 23:43, both personal bests, to lead the Falcons to a team third behind Los Gatos and St. Francis.

Jenie Song was 24th in 24:07, with Alice Teng 27th in 24:33 and Joanna Choi 28th in 24:38.

Over in the Blossom Valley Athletic League, Serena Delaplace of Westmont finished high in the individual standings at the league finals.

Delaplace covered the 2.93-mile distance at Crystal Springs in 19:53 to finish third overall in the BVAL meet.