Fontes runs to 11th at Saratoga

Homestead wins, Fremont falls in football

By Dick Sparrer

Records are made to be broken. But this is getting ridiculous.

Matt Bates and Michelle Beritzhoff of Los Gatos are each off to impressive starts in the 2000 cross country season. How impressive? Well, in back-to-back weeks the Gatos runners have written their names in the record books at neighboring schools.

Bates and Beritzhoff each set new course records on their way to victories at the Firebird Invitational at Fremont in Sunnyvale a couple of weeks back, and last Thursday the two were record-setters once again at the Saratoga Invitational.

Bates snapped the old course mark of 9:54.8 set in 1999 by Girmay Guangul of Santa Clara by covering the 2.0-mile Saratoga course in 9:52. A week earlier, he had set a new mark of 9:38 on the 2.05-mile course at Fremont.

Beritzhoff ran 11:56.4 to tie the Saratoga course record set in 1998 by Saratoga great Anne Ricketts. Beritzhoff had broken Ricketts' Firebird record of 12:14 a week earlier by running 11:29.

"She tied the course record, and she went off the course by at least eight seconds," said Los Gatos coach Willie Harmatz of the talented junior runner. "She is running fantastic."

Beritzhoff was the easy winner in the race with teammates Lynsey Harris fourth in 12:56.7, Jen Rutnitz fifth in 13:00.9 and freshman Kristy Yackle eighth in 13:36.2.

But since Los Gatos did not field a complete team, the Wildcats did not place in the team standings.

Milpitas won the team title with Saratoga second and Lynbrook a close third.

Fremont senior Ellie Sajadi ran a solid 15th in 14:25.9 with Kim Thuyen 28th in 15:24.2 and Andrea Ancona 33rd in 15:56.2.

Los Gatos easily won the boys varsity title at Saratoga with Bates first, Tomas Viramontes second, Jeff Hoeft sixth, Darren Key eighth and Greg Tolan ninth for 23 team points.

Lynbrook and Fremont finished fifth and sixth in the team standings.

Eric Fontes was 11th overall in 10:49.1 to lead the Fremont effort at the meet. Manuel Hernandez finished 23rd in 11:25.4 with John Seo 32nd in 11:56.2, Vince Klumper 37th in 12:06.9 and Sergio O'Connor 39th in 12:37.3.

In the boys frosh-soph division, Santa Clara finished first with 58 points and Fremont was a close second at 63.

Freshman Austin Sardella starred for Fremont, finishing second overall in 11:19.7. Casey McCleary was fourth for the Firebirds with Randell Polgar seventh.

In the girls junior varsity division, Milpitas edged Saratoga by a point for the title with Lynbrook third and Fremont fourth.

Fremont's Kassy Korobkova was 21th in 16:46.3 with Faranak Kamangar 22nd, Christine Su 24th, Shruti Patek 31st and Sharon Yao 34th.

Football

In local football action last Friday night, Homestead knocked off Cupertino 18-7.

The Pioneers scored first in the game when Omar Hussain fired a 22-yard touchdown strike to Robert McCoy in the first period. The extra point kick by Bijan Shahmirza gave Cupertino an early 7-0 lead.

But the Mustangs came fighting back. Steve Nichols was off to the races on an electrifying 95-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and Brandon Dougherty tossed a 14-yard TD pass to Brian Maihack to give Homestead a 12-7 lead before intermission.

Homestead added an insurance score in the third when Dougherty flipped a 24-yard scoring toss to Ryan Neale.

The Musangs made the cushion stand up for the victory, their second of the year in three outings. They will open play in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week when they visit Milpitas on Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m. The Trojans are 3-0 for the year.

Fremont, meanwhile, slipped to 0-3 for the year after a tough 24-15 loss to Monta Vista.

The Firebirds took the early lead in the game when Anthony Baza blasted over from the one and Jorge O'Connor kicked an extra point in the first period.

But Monta Vista rallied for a touchdown and a field goal in the second period to lead 10-7 at intermission.

The Matadors scored again in the third quarter, but Fremont cut the lead to 17-15 in the fourth with another Baza 1-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion pass from Nick Pullano to Ron Cerda.

Once more, though, Monta Vista rallied back for a touchdown, this time on a 57-yard run by Ryan Katza, to clinch the win.

The Firebirds will open play in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL on Sept. 28, 7:30 p.m., when they host Gunn. The Titans are 1-2 for the year following a 45-21 loss to Milpitas last week.

Volleyball

Adrienne Hoopes hammered home 19 kills, but the Homestead girls volleyball team dropped a 16-14, 15-13, 15-10 decision to Saratoga in El Camino Division play last week.

The loss evened Homestead's league record at 1-1. The Mustangs had opened the week with a 16-14, 15-9, 15-13 win over Mountain View. Angie Withrow dropped nine kills in the win.

Fremont, meanwhile, opened the El Camino Division season with a tight 15-0, 15-8, 10-15, 15-13 loss to Saratoga. Robin Glass nailed 15 kills in the loss. The Firebirds slipped to 0-8 for the year.

The King's Academy improved to 4-1 for the year and the Knights are 1-1 in the Private Schools League after a 15-6, 15-8, 18-16 win over Mercy of Burlingame last week.

Tennis

The Fremont girls dropped a pair of 5-2 decisions last week in the El Camino Division, falling to Wilcox and Saratoga to even their record at 2-2.

Nancy Koehler won twice at No. 1 singles, but it wasn't enough for the Firebirds. Koehler was a 6-2, 6-0 winner at No. 1 singles against the Chargers, and she won 6-2, 6-0 against the Falcons.

Homestead also lost twice last week, falling 5-2 in a nonleague match against Mitty and 4-3 in an El Camino Division clash with Wilcox.

Rachel Pua rolled up a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles, but the Mustangs lost 5-2 to the Monarchs.

Homestead slipped to 2-4 for the year in a 4-3 loss to Wilcox. Pua won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

Pua had posted a 6-0, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles a week earlier, but the Mustangs lost a 5-2 nod to Lynbrook in league play.

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