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With junior Cadence Lee leading the way, the Gunn wrestling team came up with arguably its best performance of the season while producing five individual champions and a second-place team finish at the San Ramon Invitational on Saturday at San Ramon Valley High.

Lee won the 106-pound title with two pins and a 3-0 record and was named the Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.

Gunn finished second with 219 points to North Coast Section Foothill of Pleasanton, which tallied 235.

"I could not believe we finished second with our results," said Gunn head coach Chris Horpel, who had two silver medalists and two bronze in addition to the five golds. "We had five champions to Foothill's one, but they had a complete and really well-balanced team with a few more bonus points."

Foothill's bonus points came in pins, technical falls and major decisions and proved to be enough to hold off Gunn.

In addition to Lee, who now has won back-to-back titles in as many weekends, Gunn received titles from Daniel Papp at 126 (4-0 with two pins, one tech fall), Eric Cramer at 132 (4-0 with three pins), Ian Cramer at 138 (4-0 with three pins), and Stephen Martin at 182 (3-0 with two pins).

Blaze Lee was second at 152 (3-1 with two pins) and Sean Lydster was runner-up at 195 (2-1 with one pin). Harsha Mokkarala was third at 220 (4-1 with three pins) and Eric Calderon was third at 285 (3-1 with one pin).

This marks the fourth meet in a row that the Titans have finished either first or second, making this the best start in Gunn wrestling history.

The Titans will host crosstown rival Palo Alto on Thursday, with the JV starting at 5:30 and the varsity following immediately after. On Friday and Saturday, both squads will compete at the prestigious Mid Cal Invitational at Gilroy High.

Palo Alto took only three wrestlers to the 50th Annual Jim Root Classic at Prospect High on Saturday and finished 27th. Gary Hohbach was fifth at 160 pounds and Jordan Gans was fifth at 170.

"Gary has been wrestling well," said Paly coach Dave Duran. "He has placed in every tournament this year (a few big tournaments, 70 plus schools). He keeps improving every week. This was Jordan's first tournament of the season. He keeps improving, as well."

Girls' basketball
Olivia Nicholls scored a season-high 19 points and Maddy Tarr had a career-high 18 points, but the individual efforts went for naught as Castilleja dropped a 56-54 nonleague loss to visiting University (San Francisco) on Saturday. Tarr also had a career-hihgh 17 rebounds and Nicholls added a season-best 11 boards, as did Paige Vermeer, who tied her career high. The Gators (3-11) grabbed 24 of their season-high 52 rebounds in just the first quarter.

Girls' soccer
Menlo School jumped on top very early with three goals in the first 10 minutes of play on the way to a 6-1 victory over visiting Notre Dame-San Jose in West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) action Saturday.

Juniors Lindsay Karle and Sienna Stritter each scored three goals for the Knights (2-0, 4-2-4).

Karle started things quickly with goals in the fourth and sixth minutes of play. She scored her first from eight yards out after a cross from junior Chandler Wickers and a quick pass from freshman Elena Gray.

Karle's second goal came on an accurate shot from 12 yards out and was unassisted. Stritter got her first goal in the 10th minute after a nice feed from junior Emma LaPorte. Stritter dribbled the goalkeeper and scored from close range. Karle scored in the 20th minute with a well-placed 20 yard blast. Stritter then took a nice feed from Gray and drove a 20-yard shot low into the corner of the goal in the 34th minute to push Menlo's lead to 5-0 at halftime.

Stritter finished the Menlo scoring six minutes into the second half with another good shot from 20 yards out, unassisted. Notre Dame connected in the 34th minute on a strong individual effort. Menlo's defense was led by Amanda McFarland, Hannah Rubin, Alexandra Walker, Jamie Corley and keeper Kelly McConnell. Menlo outshot NDSJ, 18-2.

In Los Altos Hills, Kelly Branson scored two goals to lead Pinewood to a 6-0 romp over visiting Eastside Prep on Saturday. Pinewood improved to 5-0 in the West Bay Athletic League (Skyline Division) as Olivia Biggs, Gabrielle Amos-Grosser, Amrita Mecker and Victoria Gardiner also tallied goals. Emma Mason and Gretchen Olsen contributed assists as Pinewood moved to 6-3-1 overall.

Biggs helped Pinewood go 3-0 during the week with five goals while Branson added four.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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