September 17, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Gunn grabs early lead in De Anza Division polo

by Keith Peters

At 6-foot-7 and plenty of beef, Arjan Ligtenberg is a formidable presence in water polo. That was made evidently clear Wednesday when the Gunn High senior scored seven goals in a 22-7 romp over host Los Gatos to open the SCVAL De Anza Division season.

Ligtenberg came up big both on offense and defense with his long arms and considerable size. He wasn't alone in the offensive production, however, as Nick Rouse, Kyle Gertridge, Brandon Johnson and Geoff Holman all scored three goals for the Titans (1-0, 4-2).

While Gunn was rolling, Palo Alto (0-1, 2-4) was being rocked during an 8-7 loss to Saratoga.

The match was scheduled for Paly and the Vikings were in their pool warming up when they learned Saratoga was in its pool doing the same thing, due to a schedule mixup. The Paly players grabbed their gear and headed off to Saratoga, where they fell behind in the opening quarter before tying the match at halftime, 3-3.

The Falcons scored an extra goal in the third period and held on for the victory. Gregor Horstmeyer led Paly with four goals.

The competition gets considerably more difficult for both Gunn and Palo Alto beginning today in the annual Scott Roche Invitational.

Gunn opens against defending Central Coast Section Division II champion Sacred Heart Prep at Burlingame High (1:50 p.m.), while Paly opens against always-tough St. Francis at Menlo (1:40 p.m.).

Host Menlo (5-0) opens the tournament against Mitty at noon in the Knights' pool.

Bellarmine, the No. 2 seed behind Menlo, is in the opposite bracket. The Bells and Knights could meet in the finals on Saturday at Menlo at 4:15 p.m.

While many of the top boys' CCS teams are in the Roche tournament, the top girls will be at St. Francis and Lynbrook today and Saturday for the annual St. Francis Invitational. Sacred Heart Prep, Castilleja and Palo Alto are all entered.

Paly opens at Lynbrook today (2:50 p.m.). Should the Vikings win both their matches today, they will advance to Saturday's semifinals at noon and likely face Rio Americano, which topped Menlo School last Friday night.

The championship match will be Saturday at 4 p.m. in the St. Francis pool.
Cross country

Tori Tyler of Gunn and Ben Sitler of St. Francis both broke impressive course records during the annual Gunn Alumni Meet on Tuesday at Bol Park in Palo Alto.

Tyler, a senior, ran 11.41 over the 2.18-mile layout to shatter the previous course record of 12:01 by Gunn great Ruth Graham in 2002.

Sitler broke a 20-year-old course record by covering the boys' layout in 10:35. That was good enough to erase Craig Blockhus' mark of 10:37 in 1984 from the prep record book. Blockus is now an assistant coach at Gunn. The overall course record is held by alums David Frank and Brendan Fitzgibbon, who ran 10:29.

Kevin Chaves, a St. Francis alum, was second on Tuesday in 10:36 while Palo Alto's Harrell Siller Jr. was third in 11:08.

In the girls' race, Tyler ran fast enough to place seventh in the varsity boys' race and had the fifth-fastest time of any high school athlete running. Paly's top finisher was sophomore Alicia Ivanhoe in third (13:55).

Most of the top local runners and teams will next compete on Sept. 25 at the 31st annual Stanford Invitational on the Stanford Golf Course.
Football

Sacred Heart Prep (0-1) will open its home season today with a nonleague test against Mills at 3:30 p.m.

The remaining local teams will be in action tonight.

Palo Alto (0-1) will be in the spotlight when the Vikings play their first home night game - under permanent lighting - in school history. Paly will play host to Mountain View (1-0), which knocked off defending CCS Division III champ San Mateo last weekend.

Menlo-Atherton (0-1) will take on WCAL power Mitty at Foothill College at 7:30 p.m., while Gunn (0-1) travels to face Woodside in another 7:30 p.m. contest.
Girls golf

Menlo-Atherton (5-0) remained perfect with three victories this week in Peninsula Athletic League play.

On Monday, the Bears tallied 194 strokes to defeat Menlo (207) at Menlo Country Club. Sam Bassin led the Bears with a 47 while Kelly Ashton of Menlo was the medalist with a 44.

On Tuesday, Menlo-Atherton (180) held off Burlingame (184) and Hillsdale (225) at Poplar Creek in San Mateo. Salla Rapakko (40), Bassin (45) and Jordan Micek (45) paced the Bears.
Girls volleyball

Castilleja (3-0) looks to be the dominant team early in the season. The Gators rolled over host Sacred Heart Prep this week, 25-12, 25-20, 25-19, behind the 10 blocks from 6-foot junior Alissa Flesher and nine kills by Ariel Baxterbeck. Becky Chan continues to sparkle at the setter position. In a five-game win over Westmont earlier in the week, Chan had 50 assists while Baxterbeck contributed 15 kills and Chelsea Ono-Horn had 12 kills.

The Gators will open West Bay Athletic League play on Tuesday against visiting Notre Dame-San Jose.

In another big match Tuesday, Menlo will play host to Menlo-Atherton in a PAL Bay Division showdown at 4:30 p.m. The teams are among the favorites for the division crown this season.

Gunn (3-2) moved above the .500 plateau this week by bouncing visiting Santa Teresa on Wednesday, 25-14, 25-23, 25-17. Samantha Rohman led the Titans with nine kills.

Woodside Priory, meanwhile, remained undefeated with a 25-10, 23-25, 25-27, 25-20 nonleague victory over Burton. Laura Trudelle had 15 kills to pace the Panthers (5-0).

Palo Alto (1-3) dropped a pair of matches this week, a four-gamer to host Mountain View and then to visiting St. Francis on Wednesday, 25-23, 25-21, 25-13. Katrina Zawojski had 13 kills in the setback to Mountain View.

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