SCVAL teachers, coaches competing at nationals

By Dick Sparrer

It's the middle of summer vacation, a time for teachers and coaches to take a break from the fast-pace of the school year.

But don't get the idea that teachers are taking it easy. In fact, a number of teachers and coaches from the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League are taking advantage of their time off to return to the competitive side of athletics.

Teachers and coaches from the SCVAL have teamed with MetroSport, a local shoe store, to put together a team to compete at the National Corporate Relays in Seattle.

Hank Lawson of Lynbrook and Kirk Mansfield of Monta Vista are the team captains, and they have assemble at squad of 25 athletes to compete for national honors in the great Northwest.

The local squad is making its second appearance at the corporate nationals, competing in the Division II-AA classification.

"The team allows coaches that normally compete against each other to come together and try to achieve something as a single unit," said Lawson.

The SCVAL has won the Winter Corporate Relays the last two years in a row, and has placed third in both the 1999 regionals and '99 Nationals.

This year, the local squad beat such teams as Lockheed, IBM, PacBell and Lucent at the Bay Area Regionals in July.

Members of the SCVAL/MetroSport team include Darrin Garcia, Andrew Sample, Sean Hook, Anne Hammond, Ericke Brigham, Ray Russell and H. Lawson (Lynbrook); Ernest Lee (Gunn); Grace Voss, Mark Stauffer and Pat Lawson (Fremont); Mansfield (Monta Vista); Laura Lopez (Saratoga); Walt Van Zant (Wilcox); Roger Edwards and Steve Headley (Homestead); Julie L'Heureux (Santa Clara); Ray Russell (SST); and Mike Regan, Rob Stucky, Steve Lopez and Verdine Baker (MetroSport).

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