The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Hovik second at league finals Fremont's Liew runs in girls' top 10 By DICK SPARRER Matt Bates has run in the shadows of teammates Russ Martin and Zack Regner most of this season. But there were no shadows cast on Bates when he ran in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's De Anza Division cross country finals at Crystal Springs in Belmont last week. Because the Los Gatos sophomore romped to the league title. There was a light rain falling on that cloudy Tuesday, so there were actually no shadows at all. But if there had been, it would have been Bates and Saratoga's Anne Ricketts throwing theirs back on the rest of the field as they led the way to the finish line. Bates leads boys Bates covered the hilly 2.95-mile course in 15:59 to finish first overall and lead Los Gatos to the team championship. It marks the seventh straight league title for the Wildcats. Gatos ran up a low 30 points to finish first in the team standings with Saratoga second at 52, Homestead third at 86, Monta Vista fourth at 93 and Fremont fifth at 107. All five teams have qualified for the Central Coast Section meet. Bates edged Homestead's Matt Hovik in the race for the league title. Hovik was a close second in 16:02. Martin, another Gatos sophomore, was right behind Hovik, running 16:03 to finish third. Jedd Martin was seventh in 16:35 for the Wildcats with Billy Stanton ninth in 16:49, Pat Sullivan 10th in 16:49, Regner 16th in 17:05 and Ryan Smith 24th in 18:00. Bates bettered his season best by 16 seconds on his way to the league title. His time is good for a place on the Los Gatos all-time list. Daniel Seddiqui of Homestead joined Hovik in the top five for the Mustangs. The junior star finished fourth in 16:15 to help Homestead to a team third. Freshman Joseph Feizzaheh was 25th in 18:11 with sophomore Jim Yang 26th in 18:17 and junior Scott Fernquist 29th in 18:26. Alex Daniels and Alex Shoor ran five-six to lead Saratoga to a team second at the league meet. Daniels was fifth in 16:17 with Shoor right behind in sixth in 16:23. Sophomore Jake Christopherson was eighth in 16:44 for the Falcons with Luke Anderson 15th in 17:03 and Jeff Beyers 18th in 17:17. Jarod Rothman helped Monta Vista secure a CCS berth by finishing 14th overall to lead the Matadors to a team fourth. Rothman ran 17:01 to lead all Monta Vista finishers. Kelan Champagne was 17th in 17:06 with Brian Goss 19th in 17:42, Allan Gasperini 21st in 17:56 and Patrick Rhodes 22nd in 17:58. Fremont's Eric Fontes, Doug Cameron and Manuel Hernandez all came through with top-20 efforts for the Firebirds. Fontes was 11th overall in 16:54 with Cameron 13th in 17:00 and Hernandez 20th in 17:53. Sophomore Philip Mandelstamm was 23rd in 18:00 for Fremont to help the Firebirds snag a spot at CCS. Lynbrook finished sixth in the team standings, but Aman Sirohi, William Liow and Ka Yu earned individual CCS berths. Sirohi was 12th in 16:57 with Liow 31st in 18:35 and Yu 34th in 19:08. Ricketts wins again Anne Ricketts has been running to invitational victories all season, and it was no different for the Saratoga senior at the league meet last week. Ricketts ran away from the field to win her second straight league title. She covered the 2.95-mile distance in 19:06 to finish 35 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, Sarah McAleer of Los Gatos. Ricketts led Saratoga to a team third behind St. Francis and Los Gatos, the "best team performance of the season," according to coach Marshall Clark. While Ricketts was running to a victory, McAleer was running a strong second to lead the Los Gatos effort. McAleer was second in 19:42, an outstanding effort considering the fact that she has been battling injuries all season. Still, her effort wasn't enough for the Wildcats to overcome the powerful St. Francis assault. The Lancers put four runners in the top six and five in the top 10 to win the event with 28 points. Los Gatos was second at 41 with Saratoga third at 84 and Monta Vista fourth at 100. All four teams advance to CCS. Marcia Wallis supported McAleer's effort by finishing seventh in 20:19 for Los Gatos. Freshman Lynsey Harris was ninth in 20:29 with Amy LaPine 11th in 20:33, Kate Leary 12th in 20:45, Aly Chavez 13th in 20:46 and Ashley Weger 37th in 24:21. Sophomore Elissa Dines was 19th in 21:28 to help Saratoga clinch third place in the team standings. Laura Lin was 23rd in 21:50 with MiMi Choi 24th in 22:00, Jenny Yoo 25th in 22:11 and Dernie Wang 27th in 22:22. Soph Sarah Burke was 18th in 21:23 to help Monta Vista clinch a CCS berth. Sophomore Yvonne Bailey was 20th in 21:32 with Lauren Adams 21st in 21:33, Akari Namba 22nd in 21:43 and Annie Hung 29th in 22:34. Fremont was a distant fifth with 146 points, but senior sensation Sueh Han Liew managed to clinch an individual CCS berth by finishing eighth overall in 20:23. Teammate Jennifer Brown, a sophomore, was 26th in 22:22. Two Homestead runners each won places in the CCS meet with top-20 efforts at the league finals. Soph Laura Phan was 16th in 21:16 with junior Rachel Fredrickson 17th in 21:17. On to CCS Team and individual qualifiers will now advance to the Central Coast Section meet set for Nov. 14 at Crystal Springs. Los Gatos, Homestead, Monta Vista and Lynbrook each compete at the CCS Division II level. St. Francis and Fremont are in Division III and Saratoga competes in Division IV. Mustangs split The Homestead girls' field hockey team split in a pair of matches in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Michelle Wald buried two goals, one off an assist from Julie Speckels, lead to Homestead to a tight 2-1 win over Monta Vista. The win pushed the Mustangs to 6-3-2 in the division. Earlier in the week, Homestead was blanked 7-0 by first-place Willow Glen. Fremont, meanwhile, lost twice in the West Valley Division of the BVAL. The Firebirds were blanked 1-0 by Gunderson and lost 3-1 to Del Mar to slip to 2-8 in division play. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, November 11, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.