Publication Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2004
PREP ROUNDUP
Paly swimmers display
Paly swimmers display
(April 28, 2004)depth to dunk Gunn
Palo Alto wins its seventh straight in baseball and moves
into second place in De Anza Division by rallying to beat Milpitas
by Keith Peters
If the season is like a leg on the 400 free relay, there's still at least 300 yards to go for local swim teams.
This week marks the end of the dual meet regular season. After that will be league trials and championships, followed by the Central Coast Section finals May 15 at Independence High in San Jose.
Everything leading up to next months league and section finals has been mere preparation at this point. Using that gauge, a number of squads are very well prepared for a push into the postseason.
Palo Alto demonstrated that last week by sweeping visiting Gunn in impressive style.
The Paly boys (5-0, 8-0) won eight of 12 events to hand the Titans their first dual-meet loss of the season, 103-84. The Paly girls were even more dominant as they won 11 of 12 events while posting a 132-54 triumph.
"This was the best performance this year by both of our teams," said Paly co-head coach Jeff Peterson. "Swimming against Gunn seems to bring the best our of them. For both the boys and girls, this meet was about racing the other team, and not worrying about the clock or the score. We went out and raced well against a deep Gunn team and the times and the scores took care of themselves."
The boys' meet was close early on and actually tied at 31 after Gunn's Nick Rouse won the 50 free in 22.83 to lead a sweep. After a 1-3 finish in the one-meter diving, the Titans held a 40-35 lead.
That lasted only until the next event, the 100 fly. Paly junior Jeremy Goldstein recorded a season best of 54.99 to lead a 1-2-3 finish and the Vikings were back on top for good at 48-43.
Gunn kept things close when Matt Prior won the 100 free in 50.14 to make it a three-point meet. The Titans were still in it when their 200 free relay team clocked a season best of 1:31.34 to win.
Paly senior Kalani Leifer, however, took matters into his own hands by winning the 100 back in a personal best of 55.72, the No. 2 time in the Central Coast Section this season. Freshman Peter Lo then won the 100 breast in a personal best of 1:01.53, the No. 3 CCS time this year, to lead an 11-point splurge in the event and a 91-80 advantage. Leifer led off the 400 free relay that won in a season-best 3:24.50 and the Vikings were still undefeated.
"We knew it would be close, down to the last relay," Peterson said. "We were hoping that our strength in the breast and the 400 free relay would swing the meet. The 100 fly was a huge boost for us after getting swept in the 50 free. Kalani definitely had an outstanding meet."
Leifer also won the 200 free in a lifetime best of 1:47.78 and swam a leg on the 200 medley relay squad that won in a season best of 1:42.73.
In the girls' meet, a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 free got Paly off to a 23-7 start and the Vikings were on their way. Juniors Monika Friedman and Remy Champion each won two individual events and swam on two winning relays to lead the way. Friedman's winning 500 free time of 5:08.91 was the No. 3 time in the CCS, while her 58.88 moved her into the No. 5 CCS spot.
Champion posted season bests of 2:14.15 in the 200 IM and 55.22 in the 100 free.
Paly's Heather Peng broke her own school record in one-meter diving (for six dives) with 262.45 points. Her own mark was 243.10 points.
Gunn's lone victory was by senior Lainey Eaton in the 100 breast, a season best of 1:10.59.
"This meet really demonstrated the depth of our girls' team," Peterson said.
Palo Alto will visit Los Altos and Gunn will host Homestead in their final regular-season meets next Thursday. The De Anza Division championships will be held at Los Altos on May 7.
The PAL Bay Division and West Catholic Athletic League also finish up this week, with plenty still at stake.
In the PAL, Menlo plays host to Menlo-Atherton on Thursday at 3 p.m. The Menlo boys (6-0, 6-2) need a victory to wrap up a perfect dual-meet season, while the Menlo-Atherton girls (5-1, 6-3) can knock Menlo (5-1, 6-2) into third place with a triumph.
All four teams tuned up for their regular-season finale with easy wins last week.
The Menlo-Atherton boys swamped Burlingame, 105-62, as Tore Hage set personal records of 24.03 to win the 50 free and 1:00.72 to win the 100 fly. Ted Boeddiker clocked a PR of 50.14 to win the 100 free. In the girls' meet, the Bears dunked Burlingame, 105-57.
The Menlo boys disposed of Woodside, 128-31, as Steven Wright won the 50 free and 500 free. The Menlo girls swamped the Wildcats, 129-39, as Kelsey Haley won the 200 IM and 100 free.
In the WCAL, the Sacred Heart Prep boys (5-1, 8-2) were swamped by host Bellarmine last week, 139-31, but the Gators have a chance to finish second by beating visiting St. Francis on Thursday at 3 p.m. The SHP boys have yet to beat the Lancers in a dual meet, but that elusive first win could come this week.
In WCAL girls' action, Sacred Heart Prep fell to Presentation, 97-73. The Gators, however, swam well and erased the school record in the 200 medley relay with a winning time of 1:54.81. The relay members were Tiffany Yim, Megan Maurano, Shayne McGanney and Genevieve Ang.
Castilleja (4-1) rolled over a combined Harker-Woodside Priory team, 135-49 as Ashley Schoettle and Lexie Namba won a pair of events.
Baseball
Palo Alto (10-3, 14-7) won its seventh straight game and moved into second place in the SCVAL De Anza Division with a remarkable 9-6 come-from-behind victory over host Milpitas on Friday.
The Vikings erupted for six runs in the top of the seventh to overcome a 5-2 deficit. With one out and a run in, Shane Parsons reached base on an error. That set up an eventual two-run triple by Max Pinto that tied the game. Matt Wismann then singled in Pinto for the go-ahead run.
Senior Russ Hagemann had three hits and two RBI for Paly while Nathan Ford, Adam Dexter and Parsons all had two hits. Ford slammed a homer to help make a winner out of junior Karl Laughton, who retired 13 of 14 batters through the bottom half of the fifth. David Stringer relieved Laughton in the seventh and shut down a brief uprising by the Trojans.
Palo Alto will host Fremont on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., then play a nonleague game at Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Vikings will visit first-place Wilcox (11-1) on May 5.
In the PAL Bay Division, Menlo-Atherton (5-5, 10-11) kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a 5-3 win over host Terra Nova on Friday. The win reversed a loss to the same team two days earlier.
The Bears' third win in their past four games kept them in fourth place, just a game back of Terra Nova (6-4) with five games remaining. The final game of the regular season will be at Terra Nova on May 12.
Menlo-Atherton scored two runs in the fifth to go ahead for good. David Klein walked, Alex Bedrosian was hit by a pitch and Domenic Di Ricco singled in pinch-runner D.J. Prinvale. Bedrosian then scored on Clark Hagman's single.
Terra Nova threatened in the fifth, scoring one run. As the potential tying run, Nick Rengart smashed the ball deep to left. Di Ricco, however, made a standout back-to-the-field catch for the final out.
Di Ricco finished with two hits and three RBI and Grant Stevenson pitched a complete game.
In the Private Schools Athletic League, Sacred Heart Prep (8-0, 13-4) rolled to an 8-0 win over Valley Christian-Dublin and a 15-3 triumph over Fremont Christian.
Spencer Lucian smacked two home runs and drove in five to spark the win over Fremont Christian on Saturday. Geoff Smith also homered among his four hits as Pat Coffey and Scott Cattaneo combined for a five-hitter. In the win over VC-Dublin, Tommy Pierson and Kevin Dos Remedios combined on a one-hitter while Hudson Smythe ripped three hits.
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