Sports Shorts Sports Shorts (March 31, 2004)

ON THE LINKS . . . Menlo-Atherton High graduate and former PAL league champion, Josh Wachtel, won his first intercollegiate golf tournament last week. Wachtel, who plays for the University of Redlands, was playing in the 54-hole Kingsmen Invitational in Lompoc. After playing 36 holes the opening day, Wachtel held on to his one-stroke lead on the final 18 holes to win the individual championship over the 90 collegiate players entered. In addition, he helped Redlands win the team title. Redlands will host the NCAA Division III golf championships in May . . . Former Menlo School golf standout Jesse Steinhart won his first Pepsi Pro Tour event recently at San Juan Oaks in Hollister. After an even-par 72 the first day, Steinhart overcame a one-stroke deficit and eventually led by four strokes with six holes to play before settling for a one-stroke victory. He had to forgo the $3,500 first-place prize in order to retain his amateur standing, but did receive an exemption for all future Pepsi Tour events for the remainder of 2004.

JUNIOR SWIMMING . . . Stanford-bound Brook Bishop of Palo Alto SCRA Aquatics (PASA) won the 50-yard free (23.01) and placed second in the 50 back (26.43) and 100 fly (53.41) at the Junior National Swimming Championships that wrapped up last weekend in Orlando, Fla. Club teammate Monika Friedman of Palo Alto High was ninth in the 1,650 free in 17:02.22 while Castilleja's Alexa Namba was 11th in 17:05.79. Courtney Beyer of PASA was ninth in the 200 IM (2:05.68) and 15th in the 100 fly (57.59).

PREP ROUNDUP . . . Menlo School will meet Mills this week in a showdown for the PAL Lake Division baseball lead. Both teams are 4-0 heading into Wednesday's first game at Mills at 3:15 p.m. On the mound will be Andy Suiter, who pitched a no-hitter and struck out 18 in his last outing. Starting on Friday at Menlo will be Chuck Huggins, who followed up Suiter's gem with a one-hit, 13-strikeout effort in the Knights' 4-0 win last Friday. Huggins needed only 97 pitches and walked only two. He lost his no-hitter in the first inning . . . Sacred Heart Prep improved to 2-0 in the Private Schools Athletic League baseball race with a 7-0 win at Valley Christian-Dublin last week. Will Cowell had three hits for the Gators, who followed that up with a 3-2 nonleague win over visiting El Camino on Saturday . . . In golf, Palo Alto remained perfect at 6-0 with a 193-207 SCVAL De Anza Division win over Mountain View at Palo Alto Muni. Natty Stern had a 1-over-par 37 to lead the Vikings.

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