Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Abdalla wins two events at league meet

London finishes seventh at CCS swimming finals

By Dick Sparrer

Mohamed Abdalla only had to finish in the top eight at the Blossom Valley Athletic League track and field finals to qualify for the Central Coast Section semifinals. But the Willow Glen sophomore had more on his mind last Thursday than just qualifying for CCS.

Abdalla ran to a pair of victories at the BVAL meet to advance to the section meet as a league champion. He won the 1,600-meter run and also took a first at 3,200 meters.

He'll compete in both events when the CCS semifinals get under way on May 20 at San José City College, with field events beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the running events at 11 a.m. The top placers there move on to the CCS meet set for May 26 at San José City.

Abdalla will be out to improve on his CCS showing as a freshman. The Willow Glen distance star finished 20th in the 3,200, but looks for better finish as a sophomore.

Abdalla qualified in both the 1,600 and 3,200 for the semi's, and he did it in grand fashion by running to a pair of wins in the league meet at Independence last week.

Abdalla covered the 1,600 meters in 4:27.15 for a league title with teammate Robert Ramos fourth in 4:36.14. The talented sophomore also won a league crown in the 3,200 meters in 9:41.46 with Willow Glen's Samson Galato fifth in 10:14.18.

Along with qualifying for CCS in the 1,600, Ramos earned a berth in the 800 meters by finishing seventh in the league meet in 2:03.06.

The Rams also gained a CCS spot in the 4x100 relay, the team running 45.06 to get eighth place.

Stephanie Serna tops a list of five Rams who have qualified in six events for the CCS semifinals.

Serna heaved the shot put 30-11.25 to get third place at the BVAL meet. Courtney Buchanan was fourth in the 100 meters in 13.12 with teammate Kristy Okun eighth in 13.37. Okun also qualified in the 200, running eighth in 27.21.

Kari Server qualified in two events for Willow Glen, running sixth in the 1,600 meters in 5:36.02 and finishing seventh in the 3,200 in 12:25.08.

Nan Nankerville was eighth in the discus at 85-9 to advance to CCS.

London nails seventh

Willow Glen senior Scott London capped a solid swimming career by claiming seventh in one event and placing in the B finals in another at the CCS swimming and diving championships at Stanford University last weekend.

London breezed to a seventh in the 100-yard freestyle in 47.83 after turning a 47.765 in the preliminaries. Earlier in the meet he had finished fifth in the B final in the 50 free in 22.01.

London's effort helped the Rams tie with Leigh for 26th in the team standings behind 25th place Homestead (17).

Tough finish for Rams

The Willow Glen volleyball team entered the CCS playoffs as the No. 14 seed in a 16-team field and drew No. 3 Los Gatos in the opening round. And the Rams also pulled off the upset of the tournament.

Willow Glen came within just a few points of knocking off Los Gatos, winning the first two games 25-20, 25-22 before losing the third 25-21. Los Gatos evened the match with a tight 26-24 win in game four, then won the decider 15-10.

The tough loss ended Willow Glen's season and left the Rams with a 22-14 record for the year. It also marked the end of the line for senior standouts Jason Tom, Mike Reiton and Angel Posada.

Willow Glen splits

Leland wrapped up sole ownership of the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division baseball championship with a 12-3 win over Willow Glen last Friday afternoon, but the loss could do little to diminish the joy of a 5-3 win for the Rams earlier in the week against Westmont.

The Rams, 6-15 in league play and 8-16 overall, opened the week with the win over the Grizzlies. Jason Jeffery had a couple of hits to lead the Rams and Charlie Findeisen was the winning pitcher.

The Rams unloaded for four runs in the top of the first, then after Westmont crept back into the game with a run in the first and two in the fifth, they added an insurance run in the seventh to close out the win.

Willow Glen finished the season at home against Leland, and in this one it was the Chargers jumping out to a quick lead with five in the first.

Leland added three in the third and one in the fourth and seemed to be cruising to victory with Danny Dyer tossing a perfect game and leading 9-0 heading to the last of the fourth. But the Rams weren't quite finished with their 2006 season.

Junior shortstop Cory Kingston was hit in the helmet by a pitch, breaking up the perfecto as he hustled down to first base. Kingston was forced at second on a ground ball by Kyle Lunquist for the first out, but then Jeffery broke up the no-hitter with a solid single to right that chased Lunquist to third. Then it was Mike Roseland breaking up the shutout with a single up the middle to knock Lunquist home.

Findeisen ripped the third straight hit and Jeffery was contest to stop at third to load the bases, but the ball got through the left fielder allowing him to score the second run. Roseland then scored on Justin Fuller's infield roller, and the Rams had trimmed the lead to 9-3.

That's as close as it would get, though, as the Chargers answered with three in the top of the fifth.

Willow Glen threatened when Daniel O'Shaughnessy and Jason Gibilisco opened the fifth with back-to-back singles, but the Rams failed to score.

Kingston singled in the seventh for Willow Glen's only other hit of the game, and he also played some nifty defense at shortstop. He made a fine play behind second to field a ground ball and throw out a runner at first, and he started one double-play in motion--feeding Juan Baron who threw to Roseland at first--and was the second out in another--after Fuller snagged a fly ball and caught a Charger off the bag at second. A couple of innings later Fuller made a fine sliding catch, coming in hard on a low liner to center.

Rams come up short

Senior hurler Michele McCollum tossed the Rams to three wins last week, but it wasn't enough to get the Willow Glen girls softball team into the CCS playoffs.

The Rams blasted Gunderson 18-0 in a non-league game, then blanked Del Mar 2-0 and beat Prospect 9-2 in BVAL Santa Teresa Division games to wind up the year 6-9 in the division and 11-12 overall. No team with a sub-.500 record advanced to the playoffs.

"Although we didn't make it to CCS, the girls did finish the season on a strong note," said coach Scott McCollum. "We played three games in four days, winning all three."

McCollum was on fire in the final week of her high school softball career. The right hander flipped a four-inning perfect game in the win over the Grizzlies, a 6-hit shutout in the win over the Dons and a 3-hitter in the final game of the season against the Panthers.

Katie Joyce hammered three hits to lead a 13-hit attack in the lopsided win over Gunderson to open the week.

Sandra Zamudio knocked in the game-winning run for the Rams in the 2-0 win over Del Mar. The Rams scored two runs in the second, and that would be the only scoring in the game.

McCollum finished off her career in grand fashion with three hits in the win over Prospect, matching the total she allowed as a pitcher. Senior Angie Patton blasted a home run for the Rams.

Along with McCollum, Joyce, Zamudio and Patton, seniors playing their final games for the Rams were Aurora Donnelly, Samantha Garcia, Corina Lopez, Lillian Smith, Jeanette Sulay and Debra Weaver.

"I've coached so many of these girls for so long, it was hard to watch them play their last game," added the coach.