The Sunnyvale Sun
Sports
Pioneers, Mustangs chase swim titles
Homestead clinches volleyball crown
By MIKE BARNHART
As swimmers from seven high schools converge on the Fremont pool this week for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division championship meet, an extra dose of motivation will fuel Cupertino's boys and Homestead's girls. Both squads will be looking to finish the job they started during the dual meet season to capture team crowns.
Homestead, which dropped down from the De Anza Division after a rough time in 2005, won all of its El Camino dual meets. The Mustangs improved to 6-0 by topping previously unbeaten Los Gatos, 102-78, on April 27.
"The girls have done a good job," praised second-year Homestead coach Shelly Hopkins, who tries not to get too excited about wins and losses. "It's most important that the girls have fun and improve."
Cupertino's boys enter the division championships tied for first place with Los Gatos, thanks to Homestead's surprising 91-79 over the Wildcats. Both Cupertino and Los Gatos finished 5-1 in dual meets.
"The tiebreaker goes to the winner of the championship meet," explained Cupertino coach Mike West. "It looks to be a really close contest between us, Los Gatos, Homestead and Milpitas."
The SCVAL actually determines team swimming champions with a point system that awards teams based on their final standings in dual meets and at the league meet. Most of the time, the regular season champ scores the most points at the league meet.
Girls trials are set for May 4, one day after the boys trials. Finals for boys and girls will take place on May 5. Action begins each day at 2:30 p.m.
Junior Michelle Camburn, one of four Mustangs that have qualified in the 500-yard freestyle for the Central Coast Section championship (May 12-13 at Stanford), placed first in four events against Los Gatos. She won the 500-yard freestyle and the 200 individual medley, and she swam legs of the victorious 200 and 400 relay units.
Senior Megan Meadows, junior Emily Pool and freshman Kristen Peanasky, the Mustangs' other CCS qualifiers in the 500, joined Camburn on the 400 free relay unit against Los Gatos. In the 200 relay, senior Yoshiko Shimizu, freshman Lisa Yao and sophomore Alysha Ungson preceded Camburn.
While Homestead's girls were gaining the upper hand over defending champion Los Gatos, the Homestead boys (2-4) were making the title chase more interesting.
Paul Chen, Jeff Meadows and Geovid Kali won individual races and Mitchell Horrillo claimed the diving competition against the Wildcats.
Fremont's swim team had a busy final week of the dual meet season. The girls beat Wilcox 105-57, but dropped a tough 90-79 contest to Cupertino. Meanwhile, on the boys' side, the Firebirds lost twice. Larry Wen was sharp against Wilcox with wins in the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke.
In the girls' win over Wilcox, Julia Chen and Aly Meyer both won two individual events and twice were part of winning relays. Ellen Umeda was part of both freestyle relays and Chelsea Lofland took the 200 IM.
Mustangs clinch title
Homestead's boys volleyball team racked up two more victories last week, including a three-game sweep of defending co-champion Los Gatos on April 27. With the 25-21, 25-23, 25-18 triumph over the visiting Wildcats, the Mustangs earned themselves no worse than a tie for the SCVAL championship.
Leading the Homestead attack were setter Ryan Bridge and huge middle blockers Sam Kridl (6-foot-9) and Ryan Dedrick (6-foot-7), along with hitters Luke Rosener (12 kills) and Weston Buckner (nine).
They entered this week's action with an unblemished 12-0 record in league play and an impressive 23-4 overall mark. More importantly, coach Matt Hoffman's Mustangs held a two-game lead over Los Gatos (10-2, 27-5) with just two games left on the SCVAL schedule.
Only one win is needed in this week's matches to secure an outright title. The Mustangs were to play at Saratoga on May 2 and at home against Mountain View on May 4. The Mustangs most likely will receive a very high seed and a first-round home game when the 16-team CCS championship tournament begins on May 11.
Homestead, Fremont split
After so much unseasonal weather, area baseball and softball teams are finally getting on with their season. In fact, some teams played four games last week.
And games will abound again this week, as teams scurry to make up games prior to the May 13 seeding meeting for the CCS playoffs.
When the dust on the baseball diamonds had settled, Homestead lost three of four El Camino games, dropping from 6-0 to 7-3. Fremont was 7-5, after splitting a pair with the Mustangs and beating Monta Vista, 10-2.
Senior pitcher Kevin Brahney continues to stand tall on the mound for Fremont. He pitched a complete game at Homestead, outdueling Mustang sophomore Evan Marshall for a 2-1 decision on April 25. After catcher Nacho Bermudez's RBI put Homestead ahead 1-0 in the third, Brahney helped himself at the plate with a two-run double in the fourth.
Later in the week, the Mustangs bounced back for a 10-1 win. Erik Taubman had three hits, leading a 12-hit attack in support of wining pitcher Kevin Labadie.
In Fremont's win over Monta Vista, senior Justin Cecil drove in three runs with a double and single and Nate Cathcart was the winning pitcher.
Homestead wins four
In softball, Monta Vista (6-1), Lynbrook (6-1) and Homestead (7-2) separated themselves from the De Anza pack. The Mustangs, who won four games last week, resume action on May 5 at Lynbrook.
Fremont picked up an El Camino Division win over Gunn, but dropped the next three.
