Sports PREP ROUNDUP
STANFORD ROUNDUP
Swimming showdown is all set
Stanford women take shot at NCAA water polo title Top-ranked squad earns No. 1 seed despite MPSF loss; Cardinal women’s lacrosse team in NCAA play-in game by Rick Eymer
Gunn and Paly girls look to battle for the title in De Anza Division finals
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by Keith Peters he Palo Alto boys’ and girls’ swimming and diving teams have grabbed the early lead in the SCVAL De Anza Division championships and the swimming portion of the meet hasn’t even been held yet. The Vikings are in the lead, however, following the diving competition that was held Tuesday at Gunn, site of Friday’s swim finals at 2 p.m. Palo Alto’s Cole Plambeck and Grace Greenwood won their respective titles as the Viking boys scored 41 points and the Paly girls totaled 47 to move their respective squads into first place. Plambeck scored 415.50 points for his 11-dive program to earn 20 points. Teammate Jordan Zanger was third with 316.00, Alex Francis was fifth with 283.90 and Justin Choi finished 10th with 230.58. The Gunn boys scored 24 points with Miko Mallari leading the way in fourth with 295.70 points. Teammate Josh Kern added nine points with a ninth-place finish of 243.35 points. Greenwood won a close 11-dive competition over Lauren Gardanier of Saratoga, with Greenwood scoring 397.90 points and Gardanier 396.55. Emma Miller of Paly was fourth with 335.05 and Serena Yee was seventh at 291.50. The Gunn girls, who won the regular-season title in swimming, kept their championship hopes alive by scoring 33 points in diving as Jenny Anderson was eighth (246.85), Louise McGregor ninth (240.70), Jessica Sun 10th (222.25) and Zoe Aspitz 11th (184.35). The Titans, however, were missing their top diver, Talia Mahoney, who is sidelined by an injury. The diving will be added to the swimming on Friday, which should provide some great competition. The Palo Alto girls are the defending champs, but will be challenged by Gunn. “The girls’ meet should be close,” said Gun co-coach Mark Hernandez. “I think the teams from both Gunn and Palo Alto will go down as among the top five teams the league has ever seen. “We have more girls who are more athletic and competitive than they’ve ever been. We’re very deep, very talented and very versatile. We will have around twice the finalist as we had last year. Our girls are excited and ready to go.” Hernandez said his team will have to overcome the points lost in diving to Mahoney’s injury. “Second, Palo Alto is a proud, aggressive, talented team,” Hernandez
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Allie Shorin
Palo Alto’s Grace Greenwood won the girls’ 1-meter diving competition at the SCVAL De Anza Division Championships. said. Bottom line, Henandez said, is that the Gunn girls have a very good chance at winning. As does Palo Alto. The Vikings have a total of 20 finalists returning while Gunn has eight. Paly also returns defending champs Jasmine Tosky (200 IM and 100 fly) and Sarah Liang (100 breast). Gunn’s returning league champ is Julia Ama (50 free). Said Paly coach Danny Dye: “It will be close with Gunn. I think we can take them with our numbers, plus the big guns (Tosky, Liang and Margaret Wenzlau).” The relays will be crucial to the hopes of both Gunn and Paly. On paper, the Vikings are faster in the 200 free and 400 free relays. It all depends on where the coaches place their swimmers. The boys’ meet also will be close, but more wide open than the girls. “Our boys did well (in Wednesday’s trials),” said Dye, “and actually have given themselves a chance at being able to win it. Although it would have to be a perfect storm! But at least they have a chance, I was very happy with the swims.” Girls’ Softball Castilleja kept its West Bay Athletic League title hopes alive with a 16-1 rout of host Pinewood in a game halted after four innings by the 10-run mercy rule on Tuesday. The Gators (9-1, 14-7-2) banged out 11 hits and got a 10-strikeout, onehit performance from senior Sammy Albanese, who now has 275 strike-
outs this season. She improved to 14-2-1 while allowing no earned runs. In the SCVAL El Camino Division, Gunn blanked Los Altos, 3-0. After four scoreless innings, Gunnís Taylor Aguon got on base in the top of the fifth with a single, stole second and third, and came home on a hit by Claire Collins. The Titans (7-2, 15-9) sealed the win in the top of the seventh when Nicole Grimwood and Laura Tao both scored. Gunn freshman pitcher Claire Klausner contributed another outstanding performance, allowing only two hits while striking out 16. Gunn essentially moved into a tie for first place with Santa Clara (8-2) and Monta Vista (6-2) after the Matadors handed the Bruins a 4-3 loss on Tuesday. If Gunn wins its final three games, it will finish with no worse than a tie for the division title. Girls’ lacrosse Menlo wrapped up the West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) regular-season title with a 14-9 victory over visiting Burlingame on Tuesday in the final home game for Menlo seniors Deborah Wohl, Katie Hopkins, Aly Pavela, Emma Southgate, Annie Madding, Maggie Brown, Natalie Williford and Mila Sheeline. Brown led the way with five goals while Sheeline contributed four goals. Freshman Michaela Michael scored three times while Williford and Sophie Sheeline added single tallies. N
he top-ranked Stanford women’s water polo team will be in a good position to seek its first national title since 2006 after receiving the overall No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament, which gets underway Friday at San Diego State’s Aztec Aquaplex. UCLA (20-7), which beat USC in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament championship, 8-7, on Sunday, was awarded the third seed and will meet sixth-seeded Loyola Marymount (27-5) in the first round. The Cardinal (24-2) plays eighthseeded Pomona-Pitzer (18-14), the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II. “I think I can speak for the seniors, the whole team, in expressing how excited we are for this opportunity,” Stanford senior Kelly Holshouser said Monday. “It means a lot any time you can win a championship but fr the seniors it’s our last chance and would mean a lot.” Second-seeded USC (22-3) plays seventh-seeded Marist (18-15) and No. 4 California (24-8) squares off with Michigan (32-6). The Bruins, who hosted the conference tournament, knocked off Stanford in the semifinals before beating the Women of Troy. Sacred Heart Prep grad KK Clark scored twice for UCLA, the defending national champion. Menlo School grads Camy Sullivan and Megan Burmeister and Sacred Heart Prep grad MJ Mordell are also on the Bruins’ roster. Menlo School grad Elise Ponce is a sophomore goalkeeper for the Lions. Palo Alto grad Remy Champion and Sacred Heart Prep grad Lindsay Dorst are members of the California roster, while Priory grad Constance Hiller is a freshman on the USC squad. Michigan advanced with a 7-5 victory over Indiana in the Eastern Championships on Sunday. Princeton finished third with an 11-7 win over Hartwick as Paly grads Phoebe Champion (two) and Tanya Wilcox (one) scored goals. Bucknell finished fifth with an 8-7 overtime win over Brown. Paly grad Hallie Kennan scored once for Bucknell while Castilleja grad Kat Booher scored for Brown. Women’s lacrosse The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation became a stronger conference last year, and the Stanford women’s lacrosse team would like to thank its fellow members for that. The No. 15 Cardinal knew all along it would have its NCAA tournament destiny resting firmly in its grasp. All Stanford (14-5) had to do was win the MPSF tournament title match against top-seeded Denver on its home field. The Pioneers handed Stanford one of its losses this year.
On top of that, Stanford was playing with nine field players (instead of the regulation 11) in the sudden death overtime period due to a pair of yellow cards. That’s when destiny rose up from the mile high purgatory and gave the Cardinal one last opportunity. Stanford forced a Pioneers’ turnover in the final 10 seconds of the second overtime and Karen Schmidt found herself with the ball and time running out. She scored with five seconds remaining, giving Stanford an 11-10 victory over Denver, and earning the Cardinal a trip into NCAA competition for the first time in four years. It was the moment second-year Stanford coach Amy Bokker and the senior class had been building toward since she stepped on campus. “I knew they had the potential to be successful,” Bokker said. “And I could not pass up the opportunity to join the best athletic department in the country.” Last year’s team had no such guarantee concerning the NCAAs, and despite a late-season victory over No. 2 Penn and a 14-4 overall record, Stanford was not asked to join the party. “That definitely lit a fire, especially in the current senior class, Bokker said.”It was disappointing but it became a driving force.” Two conferences, outside the field of 15, are awarded berths in the play-in game based on the previous year’s RPI rating. For the first time, the MPSF was awarded such a berth and Stanford knew it from day one of practice. The conference improved its rating in large part due to the development of teams like California, Denver, Stanford and UC Davis. Adding Oregon and Fresno State into the mix was also beneficial. Stanford hosts the NCAA playin game Saturday at 1 p.m. against Massachusetts, which won the Atlantic-10 title and is a traditional powerhouse. The Minutewomen (10-9) qualified for their fifth NCAA tournament and own the 1982 national championship trophy. “They’re a physical team and we expect that going in,” Bokker said. “Their strength is their offense, so our focus has to be on defense.” Stanford has some offense as well with senior Claire Hubbard running the show. Hubbard set a school mark with 39 assists this season and is the career leader with 86. She’s one of five players with at least 40 points entering Saturday’s contest. “She’s the point guard of our offense,” Bokker said. “She’s always heavily defended and face-guarded, which makes her performance even more impressive.” Senior Dana Lindsay, one of five co-captains that include Hubbard, leads the team with 39 goals, one ahead of junior Sarah Flynn. N
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