The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Local tracksters in top form at relays

By Mike Barnhart

High school track and field athletes have been off and running for about a month now, and they have another month of dual meets and invitationals to prepare for the championship season in May.

But local talents Will Guthrie, Jaraad Mamoon and Sarah Engle already seemed to be in top form at the West Valley Relays, March 24 in Saratoga.

Guthrie, a senior at Bellarmine College Prep and a Sunnyvale resident, captured first place in the boys long jump with a leap of 21-3. Mamoon, a Homestead senior, placed second in the boys shot put with a heave of 50-2. Both marks ranked ninth in the Central Coast Section as of March 27.

Engle, a Homestead junior, won the girls pole vault with an effort of 11-2, just 4 inches off of her personal best that she scaled a week earlier in the St. Francis Invitational. The 11-6 mark rated Engle fourth in the CCS among girl vaulters.

Another winner was sophomore Brandon Johnson of The King's Academy. Johnson sprinted 23.33 to win the 200-meter dash. He also placed second in the 100 (11.68) and ninth (18-0.75) in the long jump. In the frosh-soph 800, Fremont sophomore Jose Gurrola placed sixth with 2:13.7.

Homestead's Mamoon was fifth in the discus, hurling the platter 131-10. Two other Mustangs, junior Austin Lopez and senior Pora Paea, placed 10th at West Valley, Lopez in the shot (42-7) and Paea in the discus (124-7). Lopez finished two spots behind Paea in the discus with 123-6.

Fremont senior Elijah Carrillo romped in the 1,500-meter run, taking sixth out of 68 competitors with a clocking of 4:12.26.

Engle also placed fifth in the high jump (5-0) and seventh in the 100-meter hurdles (16.9) at West Valley, marks that rank among the top 20 in each event. Teammate Shelby Matsuoka has cleared 5-2 in the high jump.

Homestead sophomore Emily Evans was 12th in the 800 at 2:25.88. Earlier in the season, Evans ran 2:19.37, the seventh best time in the CCS. Evans also ranks seventh in the 1,600 and ninth in the 300 hurdles.

Other talented track and field boys from local schools include senior sprinters Ryan Staab and R.J. Rivera of Fremont, senior runner Rishi Agrawal and junior jumper Kevin Quock of Homestead, junior runner Matt Giusti of King's.

Other girls who have been key performers for their teams this spring include sprinters Aly Rajah and Brittany Van Schravendijk, jumpers Tina Liu and Krystal Sana and thrower Jillian Weir of Fremont, sprinters Michelle La Pointe, Aubreanna Bobb and jumpers Anisha Mazloom and Alyssa Hayes of Homestead, distance runner Kristen Butelo of King's and hurdler Alanna Hartley.

Fremont and Homestead both lost El Camino Division dual meets last week. Mountain View topped the Firebirds, 94-26 (girls) and 97-30 (boys), while Cupertino dumped the Mustangs, 81-37 (girls) and 68-58 (boys).

Badminton

Senior William Tang and freshman Felicia Soehartono both won No. 1 singles matches, leading Homestead to an 18-12 badminton victory, March 29 at Mountain View.

It was the second road win of the week for the Mustangs, who finished the first round of El Camino Division play with a 5-1 record. Earlier in the week, sophomore Terrence Pang won the No. 1 boys singles match to pace a 16-14 triumph over Los Altos.

After playing at Fremont on April 10, the Mustangs will close out the division schedule with four home matches.

Although Fremont recently lost 24-6 to a tough Los Altos team, senior Bryant Luong was a winner in the No. 1 boys singles match. Junior Mahika Ranghekar played No. 1 girls singles for the Firebirds, whose next match is at Santa Clara on April 5.

Golf

Scott Zhang of Fremont earned medalist honors at the Firebirds' De Anza Division golf match against Palo Alto on March 27. Although Fremont did not beat Palo Alto in the team scoring, Zhang was an individual winner for the third time this season.

Zhang, who shot a 1-over-par 36 against Paly for nine holes at Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course, also carded the low score in earlier matches against Homestead and Gunn.

Homestead's golfers usually are led by Sean Denny, who was the medalist during his team's one-stroke loss against Cupertino, March 28 at Sunnyvale Muni. Despite Denny's 38, Cupertino was able to win its third De Anza Division match of the year, 216-217.

The Firebirds and Mustangs will vie at Muni on April 12, in the final match for both teams prior to the SCVAL tournament in the first week of May.

Swimming

Julia Chen and Ellen Umeda both won events and swam legs of the victorious 400-yard freestyle relay team in Fremont's SCVAL-El Camino meet at Los Gatos last week.

Chen touched first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:11.06 and Umeda took the 200 in 2:08.20, posting the only individual wins during the Firebirds' 104-74 defeat against the Wildcats. Brittany Huang and Stephanie Wei joined Chen and Umeda to win the 400 relay in 4:02.02.

Except for Evan Kashi's triumph in the 100 butterfly, Los Gatos swimmers dominated the boys competition, 132-27. Kashi won the fly in 59.09.

Fremont's next home meet is set for April 6 against Homestead. The Mustangs had a busy week, with a non-league meet against Monta Vista followed by an El Camino meet with Wilcox. Homestead's boys and girls cruised past visiting Wilcox on March 29, a day after losing at Monta Vista.

Junior Geovid Kali won the 50 and 500 freestyle races at Monta Vista and senior Alex Romanko took the 200 free, but Matadors took first in the other events and won the boys division, 124-59.

In the girls portion of the meet, Mustangs Jesse Bergman (100 free), Lisa Yao (breaststroke), Stephanie Kung (backstroke) and Christina La (diving) all won events, but Monta Vista scored a 106-74 victory.

King's wrestling

There was no stopping Travis Johnson of The King's Academy at the Frosh/Soph Folkstyle State Wrestling Championships, March 10-11 at the San Jose Convention Center.

Johnson, a TKA sophomore, pinned all five of his opponents en route to the championship of the 215-pound weight class, just two weeks after placing sixth at 189 pounds in the Central Coast Section championships.

The folkstyle event, sponsored by California USA Wrestling, drew 1,100 competitors, including two of Johnson's teammates, Matthew Thalin and Josh Topete.

Thalin won six of eight matches and barely missed winning a medal at 135 pounds, while Topete was 4-2 in the tough 125-pound class.

Basketball camp

Fun and fundamentals will be emphasized at this summer's 26th annual Fremont Basketball Camp and Clinics, presented by former Fremont basketball coach Phil Kelly and the Sunnyvale Recreation and Parks Department.

Boys and girls ages 6-17 can register for two all-day camps in June and six half-day mini camps in July. All sessions will be held at Fremont High School.

The all-day camps are set for June 18-22 and June 25-29, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost is $161 per week. The mini camps, which cost $105 for five three-hour sessions, are set for July 9-13, July 16-20 and July 23-27. Campers may attend 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Registration info can be obtained by calling Kelly at 408.253.8779, e-mailing fb-camp@pacbell.net or visiting home.pacbell.net/fb-camp.