Sportswrap Sportswrap (May 20, 2005)

Local aquatics' splashy finish

The local high schools showed just how strong Mountain View's swimming and diving programs are with their impressive performances at the CCS Finals at Stanford on May 14.

The Los Altos boys met their goal of climbing into the top 10, finishing seventh. The Eagles' 105 points nudged St. Francis, which tied for eighth with 103 points. Meanwhile, Mountain View finished 10th in the boys' competition with 80 points.

Los Altos owed much of its lofty finish to its freestyle relay teams, both of which qualified for All-American consideration. The 200-yard freestyle team of Michael Orton, Alex Cringle, Tyler Smith and Connor McColl finished fifth in 1:28.90, while Orton, Ryan Incerpi, Smith and McColl took sixth in the 400-yard relay with a time of 3:15.82.

Tim Miller also put the Eagles on the diving scoreboard with a sixth-place finish in the 1-meter event.

St. Francis was led by its 200-yard medley relay team of Sean Whitney, Tommy Hendrickson, Patrick Connors and Brian Benedetti. Its fourth-place time of 1:39.86 was good for All-American consideration.

Brian Bishop turned in the strongest individual performance for Mountain View, taking sixth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.82. The Spartans' 200-yard freestyle relay team of Tyler Landrith, Steven Quistad, Fred Tran and Bishop finished in 1:29.86, good for sixth place.

In the girls' competition, St. Francis took eighth place with 118 points, while Mountain View pulled in 11th with 96 points.

Two of the Lancers relay teams qualified for All-American consideration. The 200-yard medley team of Audrey Yau, Maura McGraw, Melanie Tansuwan, and Danielle Garcia took fifth in 1:52.06, while the same quartet swam the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:41.20, sixth-best on the day.

The Mountain View girls were again led by All-American candidates Whitney Campbell and Rebecca Koch. Campbell took second in the 100-yard freestyle in 51.83 and placed third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.01. Koch finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly in 57.55.

The Los Altos girls earned 12 points and finished 31st.
St. Francis boys dominate track and field

After an undefeated regular season, the St. Francis boys track and field team left no doubt about its dominance by winning the West Catholic Athletic League Championships at Mitty on May 14.

The Lancers (7-0 WCAL) finished with 115 points, 19 better than runner-up Riordan.

As has been the case all season, St. Francis dominated the pole vault. Sophomore Casey Roche set the meet record by clearing 15-7, while Kyle Mills-Bunje and Ben Sheehan finished second and third, respectively.

Juniors Ben Sitler and Mills-Bunje again posted multiple triumphs. Sitler won the 1600-meter and 3200-meter races, and placed third in the 800-meter, while Mills-Bunje added victories in the long jump and triple jump.

The St. Francis girls, whose 5-1 record put them in a three-way tie for first place in the regular season, finished a distant second to Mitty in the WCAL Championships.

The girls proved that pole-vaulting excellence is not limited to the boys' team. Junior Taylor Franklin also set a WCAL Championships record at 12-6, while teammate Natasha Barthel came in a strong second at 12-0.

St. Francis competes in the CCS Trials on May 21 at San Jose City College.
Baseball grounds out ...

In the waning stages of a forgettable baseball season, Los Altos experienced something quite foreign: a winning streak.

Following its 3-2 triumph over Cupertino on May 9, the visiting Eagles downed third-place Palo Alto 8-6 on May 11. Winning pitcher Troy Wilhelm helped his own cause with a solid performance at the plate. Both Wilhelm and Kyle Kaszubinksi had two hits.

The streak was short-lived as Los Altos (4-19, 4-14 De Anza) fell 12-1 in its season finale to visiting Wilcox on May 13. Despite playing significantly better baseball over the season's final month, the Eagles finished in the De Anza Division's cellar, just behind rival Mountain View.

The Spartans (6-18, 5-13 De Anza) backed into the offseason with a three-game losing streak. Finishing in sixth place, Mountain View suffered an 11-9 home loss to division-champion Los Gatos on May 11 before completing the season with a 1-0 loss at Milpitas on May 13.
... and softball too

Mountain View narrowly missed an invitation to the CCS Softball Playoffs because of its late-season nosedive.

In losing five of their last six games, the Spartans (12-12, 5-7 De Anza) fell into a three-way tie for fourth-place in the De Anza Division. Four De Anza teams received bids to CCS, but Lynbrook, also 5-7 in the division, got the nod over Mountain View thanks to its 13-10 overall record.

After a 3-0 home victory over winless Los Altos on May 10 broke its four-game losing streak, Mountain View lost 3-0 at Los Gatos on May 12 in what turned out to be its final game of the season.

Despite losing some of the key cogs in their lineup, the Spartans look forward to returning their top three starting pitchers next season. --Scott Campbell

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