Publication Date: Wednesday, December 24, 2003
PREP ROUNDUP
Palo Alto pins down
Palo Alto pins down
(December 24, 2003)more honors in wrestling
by Keith Peters
The Palo Alto High wrestling team may not be the strongest dual-match squad in the SCVAL De Anza Division. Last week's 68-10 loss to Los Gatos proves that out.
Yet, when performance is based on quality and not quantity, the Vikings do just fine.
That was the case once again last weekend as Paly took only seven wrestlers to the annual Lynn Dyche Invitational at James Lick High in San Jose and brought home six medals. Paly finished seventh out of 28 teams.
The big surprise was that the Vikings won two golds and senior James McCluskey didn't get one of the golds. McCluskey won the 275-pound division two weeks ago at the Coast Classic. On Saturday, he settled for a silver-medal finish after posting three wins that put him in the finals.
Seniors Max Pinto (171 pounds) and Adam Dexter (161 pounds) brought home the gold for Palo Alto this time, as both swept through three straight matches.
Senior Antar De Sa matched McCluskey's effort with another silver medal, while sophomore Amir Shahossini (140) earned a fifth-place medal and junior Gianni Rosas (125) won a consolation title after posting four victories.
The Vikings are off for the holidays before returning to action in the Bianchi Invitational at Cupertino High on Jan. 10.
Boys soccer
Gunn (7-2-1) and Palo Alto (7-2-1) are on a well-deserved break after a busy week that saw both teams eliminated from the Homestead Christmas Cup on Saturday.
The Titans were bounced from the quarterfinals with a 1-0 loss to Live Oak on a penalty kick. The Vikings ran up against powerful Watsonville and were eliminated, 2-0. Watsonville knocked Menlo-Atherton out the tourney a week earlier with a 4-0 victory. Paly's Pedro Duarte was named to the all-tournament team.
Two days earlier, Palo Alto gained the upper hand on its rival with a 2-1 victory in SCVAL De Anza Division action at Gunn.
"This was an excellent team effort," said Paly boys' coach Don Briggs, who teaches at Gunn during the day before coaching at Paly in the afternoon. "Harrison Newkirk did a nice job of directing the defense from the goal. Strong play by Ben Flamm, Cameron Taylor and Justin Nolley in the back line helped to limit Gunn's opportunities . . . it was a nice win."
Palo Alto (2-0, 7-2-1) now shares first place in the De Anza Division with Mountain View (2-0) while Gunn (0-1, 7-2-1) suffered its first loss of the season.
Jean Choi scored on a direct kick from 25 yards out in the first half for a 1-0 Paly lead. Ed Chang stole a ball from on a play back to Gunn goalie Brian Weinstein early in the second half and scored when the Titans couldn't decide who should defend the ball between the goalie and midfielder.
Gunn had numerous scoring chances and actually scored enough to win, but two of the Titans' scores were nullified by penalties. Matt Marquess wound up scoring the Titans' lone goal after having one waived off by a penalty.
Girls soccer
Palo Alto (4-2-2) evidently has bounced back from its upsetting loss to Los Altos in the Vikings' division opener a week ago. The Vikings proved that by romping past Gunn, 4-0, last Thursday and then topped visiting Aragon, 3-0, Saturday in a nonleague match.
Paly senior Kat Stolpa, who was shutout in the loss to Los Altos, scored once against Gunn in addition to assisting on three goals. In the win over Aragon, Stolpa provided two goals.
Girls basketball
Castilleja lost its opener in the Oak Grove Holiday Classic, but still came away with a title after defeating Terra Nova, 57-43, for the consolation crown last Saturday.
After their opening loss, the Gators (9-3) won three straight. In the win over Terra Nova, junior guard Mika Peterman led the way with 19 points while Kate VanderPloeg had 12 points and 15 rebounds and junior Nikki Perlman pulled down 16 boards and scored 12 points.
Peterman was named to the all-tournament team and was joined by Palo Alto's Jossy Tseng and Sara Schulte. Tseng and Schulte helped Paly reach the title game, where the Vikings (8-3) were handled by El Camino of Sacramento, 75-54. Tseng scored 63 points during the Vikings' 3-1 performance in the tourney.
Eastside Prep (8-2) reached the finals of the Urban Invitational before falling to host Urban, 55-49. Chantelle Brown was named to the all-tournament team after scoring 38 points in three games. Teammate Brijitti Crum also had a big tourney with 49 points.
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