Sports Wrap Sports Wrap (April 09, 2004)

Eagle boys win but girls lose

The Los Altos boys swim team beat Menlo last week to extend its league record to 3-1. Meanwhile, the women lost to Menlo and are now 0-4.

Connor McColl won both the 100-meter individual medley (2:06.73) and the 100-meter backstroke (1:00.73) for the men. The top performer for the women was Courtney Beyer who took the 200-meter and 500-meter freestyle in 1:57.71 and 5:17.93, respectively.

Los Altos will host Monta Vista on April 16, at 3 p.m.

Losing streak plagues Los Altos baseball

Los Altos varsity baseball fell to 3-6 in league after losing all three contests in a busy three-game week.

On March 29, the Eagles faced Cupertino, who they had previously defeated on March 19. Although Los Altos put the tying and go-ahead runs on base during the last two innings, the Cupertino pitching staff successfully stopped any Eagle rallies. The final score was Cupertino 6, Los Altos 4.

The team traveled to Milpitas on the following Wednesday, March 31. Led by Matt Nippes' home run and some strong pitching by junior Peter Moore, the Eagles took a 6-5 lead with two outs during the seventh inning. But a wild pitch on two strikes by the Los Altos relief pitcher allowed in the tying run from third base. Although they had defeated Milpitas earlier in the season as well, the Eagles then went on to lose in nine innings.

Then on April 2, the Eagles met Los Gatos for the first time this season. Nippes hit his second home run of the week to tie the score at 2-2. But a two-out bloop single by Los Gatos put two runs across the plate in the fifth. During the sixth inning, the Wildcats scored another four runs, increasing their lead in an 8-2 victory over Los Altos.

Lancers win some, lose some

St. Francis boys volleyball defeated St. Ignatius 25-8, 25-23, 25-16 on April 1 and returned to finish third in the Willow Glen Tournament days later. Before losing to Mountain View in the semifinals, the Lancers defeated Redwood Christian, Alisal and Pioneer. The kill leader for the day, Brian Houlihan, was voted to the All-American team.

The Lancers are scheduled to face Valley Christian away on April 20 at 5:30 p.m.

Disappointing day for the Spartans

Last week, Mountain View swimmers traveled to Gunn for the first time sine 1991. Coach Ben Murray said he hopes it will be another thirteen years before they return.

The women suffered a two-point defeat after leading for most of the meet. First-place finishes by Brooke Bishop, Rebecca Koch, Erica Lau and Whitney Campbell were not enough to overcome the depth of the Titan team.

A disputed finish in the 100-meter backstroke marked the turning point of the meet as stopwatches replaced a malfunctioning timing system. The Spartans contended that they finished first, third and fifth in the race to beat Gunn 10-6, but were placed at first, fourth and fifth by scorekeepers for a 9-7 win instead. The small turnaround was enough for a Gunn victory.

It was a similar story for the small Spartan boys team as Gunn swamped Mountain View 119-90.

Mountain View will compete at home against Palo Alto on April 16 at 3 p.m.

-- Colleen Corcoran

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