Sports
Water polo (continued from page 72)
(continued from page 72)
Elise Kiya came in with an 87,” Knight said. “There were the 85s. Stephanie and Emily’s score were big. Especially Stephanie. That gave us a little leeway for higher scores. I’m very proud of her, and the other girls. I tell them ‘never give up, you don’t know what the other girls are doing.’ You give up on one hole, one shot, one putt may cost us. They never gave up. They had to grind it out today, but it paid off.” Palo Alto finished second with a score of 404 to qualify for the Northern California Regional at The Club at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas on Monday. Chou joins the Vikings as an individual. St. Francis won the team title with a score of 375. Valley Christian also advanced to the NorCal tournament with a 406. Castilleja placed fifth (411) while Menlo was seventh (417) and Gunn 10th (436). The Gators were led by Niav Layton’s 1-over 73, good for a top-10 finish, and Divya Tadimeti’s 77.
Palo Alto Weekly Photo
Girls golf
Menlo-Atherton junior Ayla Huhn hopes to help the Bears earn a berth in Saturday’s quarterfinal. Photo by Keith Peters
St. Ignatius at Serra in Division II girls. Sophie Frick scored four times and ninth-seeded Palo Alto turned back Salinas, 12-3, in the first round Tuesday at Homestead High. Gillian Bressie stopped 10 shots and Menlo sprinted to a five-point halftime lead en route to a 9-6 win over Aptos. Sacred Heart Prep earned the top seed in both Division II boys and girls tournament. The boys meet either Pioneer or St. Ignatius on Saturday, while No. 2 seed Menlo plays either Half Moon Bay or Aptos. No. 3 Valley Christian and No. 6 Santa Cruz, and No. 4 Soquel and No. 5 Carmel also play in Division II boys. SH Prep’s JC Marco and Menlo’s Tiago Bonchristiano are two of the top goalies in the country, let alone the section. Both are surrounded by outstanding field players. Alex Tsotadze, Jackson Enright, Larsen Weigle and Andrew Churukian have been the Gators’ leading scorers, though several others have played important roles. Sam Untrecht is Menlo’s leading scorer, though Niko Bhatia, Ben Wagner, Scott Little, Miller Geschke and Jayden Kunwar have all had big scoring games. Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep have combined to win the past 11 CCS Division II titles and usually face each other in the title game. The Knights have won three CCS titles, last winning in 2010. The Sacred Heart Prep girls plays either Willow Glen or Sobrato while the Menlo-St. Ignatius winner plays against No. 2 seed Soquel.
Maddy Johnston looks to help Sacred Heart Prep record its 10th consecutive CCS Division II title. Third-seeded Castilleja meets No. 6 Presentation and No. Mitty and No. 5 Valley Christian play each other. Castilleja, coached by Olympic gold medalist Brenda Villa, has reached four CCS championship finals and is still looking for its first title. In Division I boys, No. 2 Gunn will play Willow Glen or Los Gatos while No. 3 Menlo-Atherton plays No. 6 Palo Alto. The Titans are also a multidimensional team, featuring seniors Quinn Hamilton, Lucas Batista, Patrick Zhao and JP Napaa. Juniors Aaron Babian and Jack Mallery have also been impressive. Senior Jackson Waschura handles goalkeeping duties. Gunn has won three section titles, the last in 1995.
The Vikings lone league losses were to Gunn and they took the Titans to sudden-death overtime in the championship game of the league tournament. Sophomore Ben Rapperport tends the goal, while seniors Jared Stanley, Thomas Smale, Alex Beaudry, Andrew Jozefov and Eric Maser take care of the field work. Palo Alto, coached by Aaron Johnson, has won four CCS titles, the last in 1997. Menlo-Atherton is coached by Brandon Johnson. Also indicative of a tough schedule, the Bears are 11-4 against CCS competition, including a win over Gunn, coached by Matt Johnson. Should the Titans win their first game, a Johnson-coached team is guaranteed to reach the finals at Independence High on Saturday,
Menlo’s Sophie Siminoff shot a 74 for a 13th place finish and Menlo-Atherton’s Noami Lee fired a 76 to place 17th overall. Lydia Tsai paced the Titans with a score of 78. The biggest celebration came after Yu was crowned the individual champ. “The playoff was great. All the girls following Stephanie, cheering her on each shot she made,” Knight said. “She had a chance to win it on the first playoff hole but came up 6 inches short of a birdie putt. That’s okay, she got it on the next hole, No. 9. Great drive, next shot was about three feet away. But it was a tricky putt. Down hill with a slight bend to it. Made it center cup. Girls went wild.” Both Castilleja and Menlo’s lineups carried a majority of underclassmen. The Gators have three sophomores heading the lineup and the Knights utilized three freshmen. Siminoff, who was seventh last year, played another fine round, tee to green, hitting 15 of 18 greens in regulation. She sank a birdie putt on the 17th hole and then hit two aggressive and long shots to hit the up-
hill par-5 18th hole in two shots. She narrowly missed her birdie after going for her eagle putt in an attempt to finish at even par. Siminoff shot a 74 to just miss a return trip to NorCals. It’s the second season in a row that Menlo advanced as a team to CCS. “I didn’t realize how different it was having a team with you until I played NorCals alone last year,” Siminoff said. “There’s definitely a better vibe when you can wave to your teammates in passing holes. It’s fun to be able to root for someone else in blue.” Only Siminoff and senior Lauren Yang, who played for last’s year’s CCS-qualifying team, had the experience of playing at the championships, but youth hardly stopped this team. “The team this year was really strong. We had four freshmen who are all dedicated and obviously love the game plus one senior (Yang) who co-captained with me,” Siminoff said. “I think having two upperclassmen helped keep a balance of maturity (we’ve played these kinds of events before) and new excitement from the underclassmen.” Q
Nov. 12. Junior goalie Noah Smith has missed action this season, though M-A remained competitive behind junior Nick Caryotakis, another quality field player in a section that has plenty of them. Junior Ilia Dzotsenidze and seniors Nick Andrew, Davos Paquin and Henry Marks are also among the Bears top players. In Division I girls, the Paly-MA winner plays No. 1 seed Leland, the Lincoln-Woodside plays No. 2
seed St. Francis while No. 4 Gunn meets No. 5 Mountain View. Junior goalie Zoe Banks leads a talented group that owns wins over Castilleja and defending champion Los Gatos. Seniors Mikaela Wayne, Gianna Gencarella, Georgia Hake, Janis Iourovitski and Sylvia Illouz lead a relatively young team into the championships. Sophomores Kayla Lin, Kara Jacobsen and freshman Cooper McKenna are among the significant contributors. Q
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Minhee Chung CASTILLEJA The freshman was the Gators leading scorer during the PAL water polo tournament, leading Castilleja to the tournament title. The Gators also went undefeated in league play.
Evan King, Hayden Pegley MENLO The senior wide receiverquarterback combination connected on 14 passes for 244 and a pair of touchdowns as the Knights clinched a co-title in the Ocean Division with a win over Woodside.
Honorable mention Megan Chou
John Anderson
Joanna Falla
Aaron Babian
Janis Iourovitski
Jaeden Bailey
Maddy Johnston
Tiago Bonchristiano*
Naomi Lee
Jordan Mims*
Georgia Lewis*
Dylan Williams
Pinewood golf Palo Alto water polo Gunn water polo
Sacred Heart Prep water polo Menlo-Atherton golf Castellija water polo
Palo Alto water polo Gunn water polo Pinewood football Menlo water polo
Menlo-Atherton football Menlo football
* Previous winners
Watch video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to PASportsOnline.com
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • November 4, 2016 • Page 75