The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Engle flies to fourth in pole vault at Top 8

By Mike Barnhart

Homestead junior Sarah Engle scaled 11 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault, earning fourth place during the girls competition of the 28th Central Coast Top 8 Track and Field Classic last Friday night at Los Gatos High. Engle's mark, which tied her personal best, ranks fourth in the Central Coast Section this season.

Engle also ran 16.31 in the 100 hurdles to win her heat and place fifth overall.

Wilcox senior Nha Dien Bui placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 35-1 and second in the 100 hurdles in a wind-aided time of 14.92.

Homestead sophomore Emily Evans finished 14th in the 1,600-meter run, clocking 5:17.31. She also ran 50.74 for 15th in the 300 hurdles.

Senior Jaraad Mamoon placed ninth in the boys discus throw, heaving the platter 136-2, and 12th in the shot put with an effort of 47-9.5.

In the frosh-soph throwing events, Homestead sophomores Luke Rosener and Michael Bernal posted PRs in the discus and shot put. Rosener placed second in the discus with an effort of 119-6 and Bernal was fifth with 112-4. In the shot put, Rosener placed third with 37-9.5 and Bernal took sixth with 42-2.5.

For Wilcox's Bui, it was a busy weekend. Following the Top 8 event, she won four events at the Ed Kearney Invitational at Salinas' Hartnell College. Bui claimed victories in the long jump (16-0.75), triple jump (35-7.5) and 100 hurdles (15.12) and a second place in the 100-meter dash (13.28).

Daniel Tejera placed second in the frosh-soph boys 1,600 run with a time of 4:41.8.

A week earlier, Fremont and The King's Academy athletes competed in the 17th annual Hampton-Phillips Track Classic at San Jose City College.

Fremont's Elijah Carrillo ran 2:04.39 in his heat of the 800-meter run and placed second. Later, he ran 10th in a very fast 1,600-meter heat, His clocking of 4:32.83 was a personal best this season.

In frosh-soph boys competition, sophomore Kenny La placed second for Fremont in the shot put with a toss of 39-0 and teammate Peter Cabana took fourth in the long jump with 18-7.5. Cristhian Montenegro (2:09.87) had a PR and was 11th overall.

King's senior Kristen Butelo placed fourth in her 1,600-meter heat, clocking a personal best of 5:34.99. Sophomore teammate Priya Pappu's time of 5:48 was her best of the season.

Fremont track athletes turned in solid efforts April 7 at Leland's Don Bell Quicksilver Classic.

Sophomore Brittany Van Schravendyk placed second in the 200 and fourth in the 400, while Aly Rajah took sixth in the 100.

Carrillo ran 2:00.78 for fifth in the 800 and 52.52 for seventh in the 400, two places behind teammate Ryan Staab (52.35). Senior Matt Nieveen placed 10th in the 100 with 11.97.

Bellarmine thrower Andrew Estko, a Sunnyvale resident, earned third place in the discus with a heave of 152-08.

Battle of unbeatens

Something had to give when The King's Academy and Sacred Heart Prep baseball teams collided in Atherton on April 19, but it was not what the Knights hoped for.

The Gators handed TKA its first loss of the Private School Athletic League season, 8-0. Outhitting the Knights 13-2 and playing flawless defense on its home field, Sacred Heart made an easy game out of the match-up between the two 6-0 squads.

King's then took out some of its frustration on Redwood Christian two days later in Sunnyvale.

The Knights used a five-run fourth inning to break open a close game, then finished off a 9-1 decision. With a 14-hit attack and no defensive mistakes, the Knights improved its record to 7-1 in league play and 12-3-1 overall.

Chris Gustafson (3-2) was the winning pitcher. Thadd Winton had two doubles and an RBI for the Knights.

Corbett Clarke and Brent Bethel have been the offensive leaders for TKA thus far. Clarke entered the week with 20 hits and a .435 batting average, while Bethel had driven in a team-high runs.

Homestead, Fremont clash

Alex Jones belted two triples and drove in three runs and Evan Marshall pitched a complete game as Homestead defeated Monta Vista, 6-1, in a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division game on April 17.

The win, the Mustangs' ninth without a loss in El Camino play, improved their overall record to 16-5. Marshall scattered five hits and struck out eight Matadors, while running his pitching ledger to 8-2.

Fremont will try to stick the Mustangs with their first league loss this week, as the neighbor schools square off for a home-and-home series. After playing on the Homestead diamond on April 24, the two teams will clash at Fremont on April 26.

Fremont is 5-4 in El Camino play, after splitting a pair of games with Santa Clara last week.

The Firebirds won a night game at Washington Park 12-10 in eight innings, but lost two days later at home 12-1.

Tom Lopez slugged two doubles and a single and knocked in a couple of runs to pace Fremont's victory. The Firebirds had eight hits and benefitted from six Santa Clara errors. Senior Kevin Knopf was the winning pitcher.

Santa Clara (5-4) exploded for 24 hits and played errorless defense in the next game. The Bruins led just 4-1, entering the fifth inning, but tallied three runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and three more in the seventh.

Meanwhile, Fremont managed just four hits in the game.

Homestead streak ends

After going nine days without playing a match, the Homestead boys volleyball team got back into the swing of things at the 16-team Los Gatos Invitational, then ran into a buzzsaw.

The Mustangs extended their victory streak to 25 with tournament wins over Serra, San Lorenzo Valley, Los Gatos and Valley Christian, but lost to Granite Bay in the semifinals. The day's results left Homestead with a season record of 30-3.

Homestead took a 12-0 league record into an SCVAL match at Monta Vista on April 24. The Mustangs needed a win against the Mats, plus victories in their final three matches, to finish league play undefeated for the second season in a row.

The toughest of the three upcoming matches might be the last one, May 3 against visiting Mountain View (11-2). But before they tangle with the Spartans, they need to get past a home match against Santa Clara on April 26 and a road match May 1 at Saratoga. All of the matches are set to begin at 5:45 p.m.