Koch, Bucko lead Mountain View girls
By Justin BullThe 2006 season proved to be a trying one for the Mountain View girls swimming and diving team.
Junior swimmer Becca Koch and senior diver Emily Bucko helped the Spartans forget a discouraging last-place finish at the league championship, turning in a respectable performance at the Central Coast Section finals May 13.
Mountain View sent the two young athletes to the finals at Stanford, and together they scored 28 points to rank MVHS 21st in the section.
Koch had an impressive third place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.00, earning her All-American Consideration (AAC). The junior would later take 11th place in the 100 backstroke (1:00.56) and Bucko placed 11th in the one-meter dive.
Mountain View boys 11th overall
Despite a last place finish in the De Anza Division Championship on May 6, the Spartan boys performed reputably at the CCS meet the following weekend. Together, the team scored 86 points and placed 11th overall on strong performances by senior Brian Bishop and freshman newcomer Nick Trowbridge.Bishop racked up 30 points at CCS in two freestyle events, placing third in the 100 freestyle (55.14) and fifth in the 200 freestyle (1:42.96). Trowbridge also opened eyes after an Automatic All-American (AAA) time of 4:36.63 in the 500 freestyle. The young freshman will only improve in his upcoming seasons at Mountain View.
Other point-getters for the Spartans included freshman Zack Hoberg, junior Stewart Felding, and senior Steven Quistad and senior Evan McDonald, who placed 10th in the one-meter dive.
St. Francis girls take 2nd
The girls of the St. Francis swimming and diving team showed they were a fully capable squad in 2006, finishing second in the West Catholic Athletic League with a 6-3 overall record. “We have a pretty solid program up and down the line,” Athletic Director Michael Pilawski said of his swimmers.At the CCS meet on May 13, the Lancers placed seventh overall. Senior Melanie Tansuwan notched two eighth-place finishes in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.78) and the 100 butterfly (59.47). She also helped the 200 freestyle-relay team earn third place along with freshman Victoria Pachay, senior Maura McGraw, and junior Jenna Gunderson. Pilawski sees Gunderson as a potential leader for next season’s squad.
The Lancers will lose senior diver Michelle Morikawa to graduation at the end of this year. Morikawa placed fourth in the one-meter dive at CCS, and will dive for Princeton next year. Three junior Lancer divers also placed at CCS — Hallie Ivester, Amy Bogart, and Danielle Brennan — leaving Pilawski confident for the 2007 season.
“We have kind of a young team,” he said, “I have high hopes for next season.”
St. Francis boys wind up 4th in league
The Lancer boys also finished their swimming and diving season with a 6-3 record, placing fourth in the West Catholic Athletic League.The young St. Francis squad sent several athletes to CCS, led by senior Brian Benedetti and sophomore David Kuo. Benedetti took fifth in the 50 freestyle (21.74) and, along with Kuo and juniors Connor Broom and Shane Murray, placed ninth in the 200 freestyle-relay (1:30.02).
Blake Everhart contributed to the Lancer effort as well, ending his day at CCS with a bronze in the 1-meter diving competition. Losing Benedetti will hurt St. Francis next season, but the wealth of young talent hopes to keep the Lancers a contender in the upcoming years.
Season a struggle for Los Altos
Los Altos did not fare as well in its 2006 season. The girls came in fifth at the SCVAL De Anza Division Championships, while the boys placed sixth.Los Altos sent a handful of athletes to represent the school at the CCS meet at Stanford on May 13. Divers Tim Miller and Andrea Santucci placed ninth and 12th, respectively, in the 1-meter dive, and overall the Eagle boys earned 20 points to position them 21st in the section in 2006.
E-mail the sports desk at sports@mv-voice.com
