Sports
CCS track
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Maddy Price
Jack Redman
Menlo School
Menlo School
The junior was the top qualifier at the section track semis in the 200 (25.04) and 400 (55.16), setting a school record and lowering her CCS-leading time in the 400 to qualify for the CCS finals in both races.
The senior pitcher tossed a complete-game five hitter with no walks to defeat Carmel, 3-2, in the first round before coming on in relief to save a 4-3 victory over Soquel in the CCS Division III baseball quarterfinals.
Honorable mention Annalisa Crowe Menlo-Atherton track & field
Taylor Fortnam Menlo-Atherton track & field
Gillian Meeks Gunn track & field
Maya Miklos Gunn track & field
Adriana Noronha Gunn track & field
Sarah Robinson Gunn track & field
Derek Ackerman Sacred Heart Prep golf
Andrew Buchanan Menlo golf
Zach Plante Menlo-Atherton track & field
Nico Robinson* Sacred Heart Prep track & field
Nick Sullivan Palo Alto track & field
Eilon Tzur Palo Alto track & field * previous winner
To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com
NorCal tennis (continued from page 29)
ably without starters Richard and Victor Pham. Both were competing at a Level 2 USTA tournament in Southern California. Both were on hand for NorCal, which made Menlo all the more unbeatable. Appropriately, Menlo’s six seniors — Pham, Andrew Ball, Daniel Morkovine, William Boyd, Michael Hoffman and Eric Miller — saw action for a final time. Pham won at No. 1 singles over Matt Campana, 6-0, default. Ball downed Peter Campana, 6-1, retired. Morkovine teamed with freshman Lane Leschly to post a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) win at No. 1 doubles over Alex Frank and Joey Simpson. Boyd and sophomore Vikram Chari won at No. 2 doubles over brothers Brendan and Gordon Barrows, 6-2, 6-2, and Hoffman joined with Miller at No. 3 doubles for a 6-2, 6-1 win over Aidan Tribble and Rohan Kothari. The other two singles wins went to sophomore Victor Pham at No. 3 (6-0, 6-0 over Eric Dennis) and sophomore Gunther Matta at No. 4 (6-0, 6-1 over Ryuan Acbay). The senior class wrapped up a
remarkable 110-2 record while becoming the first Menlo class to lose only twice in four years. That group helped the Knights go 27-0 in 2010, 28-1 in 2011, 28-0 in ‘12 and 27-1. “This team is unbelievable; I’m still in awe,” Shine said. “They truly enjoy each others’ company and want to win for the guy standing next to him. These guys played hard and aren’t above playing high school tennis. This is a couple months out of the year for them to be on a team and they embrace that.” While Shine loses his super six, he retains an excellent eight in David Ball, Vikram Chari, Clarence Lam, Gabe Morgan, Nathan Safran plus Matta and Pham. Shine also has incoming freshman Mark Ball, the fourth brother in the family. “Half the team is very experienced,” Shine said of next year’s squad. “Our singles are very experienced. Doubles is really inexperienced. Shine said next year’s Central California Classic in Fresno likely will tell him a lot about the team’s makeup. “It’s just a matter of getting that big match experience,” Shine said. “We won’t be 10 deep like this year, but we still have a lot of good talent.” N
(22-8 1/2), No. 3 in the high hurdles (14.42) and No. 5 in the 300 IH (38.63). When he qualified for the CCS finals in all three events, his decision was clear. “That gives me a 1-in-3 chance to make it to state,” he said, even though his chances are closer to 2-in-3. “I think I could be the first person in Sacred Heart Prep history to go to the state meet, so that’s pretty cool.” Robinson ran his personal best (14.42) in the highs at the CCS semifinals last Saturday, despite hitting the last six hurdles. He tied for second in the long jump (22-8 1/2) and finished third in the 300 intermediate hurdles (38.87). While Robinson won’t be walking with his classmates in the graduation ceremonies, he will be receiving his diploma. That will take place Friday morning during the school’s honors convocation. Robinson also will get an opportunity to partake in grad night. As soon as the 300 hurdles are done, Robinson will hop into SHP coach Ken Wilner’s car and be wisked away to parts unknown. “I have no idea,” Robinson said of the grad night site. “I know where it is, but I’m not telling,” said Wilner. While Wilner refused to divulge the site, he did acknowledge: “We’re not driving to Disneyland.” Robinson said grad night runs until 2:30 a.m., and Wilner added that there’s plenty of time to get Robinson there. “He’ll enjoy grad night celebrating with his classmates,” promised Wilner. “Hopefully with a couple of medals around his neck.” Robinson was one of three local boys to qualify in three events for the CCS finals, which get under way at Gilroy High on Friday with field events at 4 p.m. Running begins at 6 p.m. Palo Alto junior Nick Sullivan also qualified in three events. He was third in the 200 (22.27), third in the 400 (48.96) and helped the Vikings’ 1,600 relay team finish third in 3:25.83. Rounding out the three-event qualifiers was MenloAtherton junior Zach Plante. He clocked 49.56 in the
CCS baseball (continued from page 29)
talk about playing against the ball, not against another team.” Chris Atkeson or Austin Marcus will take the mound on Saturday, with whoever doesn’t start being able for relief. It’s the last game of the season, something Schoof and his players have experienced before as this will be the Knights’ fourth straight appearance in the championship game. Menlo earned a shot at perhaps winning the sixth CCS title in program history by upsetting No. 1 seed Palma, 4-3, in eight innings in a semifinal Tuesday night. Pacific Grove advanced with a 10-3 win over R.L. Stevenson. No other CCS team in the past four years has made as many titlegame appearances as the Knights. Pacific Grove, meanwhile, will be looking for its 38th straight victory over a two-year span. “I have to admit I’m pretty happy to be there for a fourth straight year,” said Schoof. “So much can happen. We lost so much of last year’s team; we are still very young.” On Tuesday, Menlo scored the winning run in the top of the eighth. Christian Pluchar led off with a single and Graham Stratford bunted back to the pitcher, who threw out Pluchar at second. Will King walked and Menlo had runners at first and second. Jared Lucian grounded to the shortstop, who threw the ball away
Keith Peters
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SHP senior Nico Robinson 400, No. 2 in school history, in addition to leading off the 400 relay (43.23) and 1,600 relay that both qualified. Gunn junior Sarah Robinson, Palo Alto senior Eilon Tzur, Menlo School junior Maddy Price, Gunn junior Adriana Noronha, Menlo-Atherton freshman Annalisa Crowe, Paly senior Jayshawn Gates and M-A senior George Baier all moved on in two events each. Other area qualifiers for Friday’s finals included: Gunn freshman Gillian Meeks and M-A junior Taylor Fortnam in the girls’ 3,200; Gunn freshman Maya Miklos in the girls’ 300 hurdles; the Palo Alto girls’ 400 relay team of Megan Tall, Alexa Garcia, Joyce Chang and Jess Branson; the M-A 1,600 relay squad of Annie Harrier, Naomi Tovar, Cassie Stansberry and Crowe; Menlo senior Walter Peacock in the 100; SHP junior Ricky Grau and Gunn senior Wyatt Eberspacher in the high hurdles; Palo Alto senior Victor Du in the long jump; SHP senior Cameron Van in the high jump (6-0); M-A’s 400 relay team of Anders Ward, Deverick Meacham, Kadri Green and Plante, the Bears’ 1,600 relay foursome of Plante, Connor Lindquist, Baier and Meacham; Palo Alto’s 1,600 relay team of Malcolm Davis, Sullivan, Gates and Eli Givens; and Menlo School’s 1,600 relay team of Michael Reed, Matt Myers, Travis Chambers and Max Parker. N
-- allowing Stratford to score. Palma (22-7) rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 3. Palma got its lead-off runner on in the bottom of the seventh and moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Menlo pitcher Jack Redman, however, got out of the inning without allowing a run to set the stage for the Knights’ winning tally in the eighth. Redman (8-1) gave up a lead-off double in the bottom of the eighth, but set the Chieftains down without further trouble. He finished with a complete game, his second in the postseason to go along with a save in the quarterfinals. Division I For one fleeting moment, Palo Alto had every reason to think it could topple St. Francis in its CCS playoff semifinal Wednesday at San Jose Municipal Stadium. Then, reality set in. The No. 5 seed Vikings struck first, but it wasn’t nearly enough in a 8-3 loss. Palo Alto finished the season 18-16 and made a stirring run in the section playoffs, knocking off No. 4 seed Bellarmine in the quarterfinals. “We didn’t return one starter (from last year’s 27-7 team), and this squad flat-out overachieved,” Palo Alto coach Erick Raich said. “They squeezed every ounce of athletic ability they had out of themselves. We would’ve had to play close to a perfect game to beat St. Francis.”
Which the Vikings didn’t come close to doing. Palo Alto struck first, scoring a run in the top of the third inning on a sacrifice-fly from Austin Poore. However, in what would be a recurring theme, the top seed Lancers (28-4) had an answer every time Palo Alto threatened to make things close. St. Francis scored three times in the bottom of the third, highlighted by a two-run double from Michael Strem, who finished with three hits and five RBI. The Lancers got the leadoff man on in the inning as a result of a Palo Alto error, a pivotal moment in the game. “That’s a huge turning point right there,” Raich said. The Palo Alto players felt the same way. “You can never lose hope, but it’s hard to watch when you get that first run and then can’t hold the opponent down partly because we let them in,” said Vikings’ first baseman Rowen Thompson, who collected two of the team’s five hits. “It’s tough for morale in the dugout as well. Whenever you can get out in front, it’s really huge from a momentum standpoint. It also gives you confidence you can win the game, but we just couldn’t finish it off.” To its credit, Palo Alto fought to the very end, scoring two runs in the sixth off Strem, who allowed three runs over six innings while striking out eight. However, the Lancers answered with two of their own in the bottom half to account for the final score. N
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