Menlo boys' water polo Menlo boys' water polo (November 03, 2004)has the season in focus

Best-ever finish in state tourney has Knights primed for postseason

by Keith Peters

Right now, the toughest opponent for the Menlo School boys' water team is itself.

After earning a seventh-place finish at the TruWest Memorial Invitational against some of the top teams in the state last weekend, the Knights must back up their best-ever finish in the prestigious event by not losing focus.

Menlo, which opens play in the Peninsula Athletic League tournament Friday at Burlingame High at 3:15 p.m., will not face a team the remainder of the season the caliber of Foothill of Orange County or Harvard-Westlake. Foothill, ranked No. 2 in Southern California, handed Menlo 10-7 loss and Harvard-Westlake, SoCal's No. 3 team, edged the Knights by 6-2.

Menlo (24-5) got even for the weekend by beating Coronado, 11-6 (a team that beat the Knights earlier this season) and by holding off No. 5-ranked El Toro, 10-5.

Sophomore Ben Hohl scored 14 goals in the four matches, but was held scoreless by Harvard-Westlake. Junior Matt Hudnall had perhaps a breakthrough tournament with seven goals, proving he can take some of the scoring burden off the shoulders of Hohl and senior Andy Suiter. Travis Read also had a solid tourney while senior Jimmy Sandman had 48 saves while showing why he's regarded as the nation's top goalie.

The Sacred Heart Prep boys (21-8) went 1-3 in the TruWest tournament, including a 15-14 triple-overtime loss to Clovis West and a 13-11 setback to Miramonte in the 11th-place game. Senior Douglas Wigley led the Gators with 16 goals while Dylan Mobley added nine and Ian Bausback had eight.

Menlo-Atherton (6-21) overcame the season-ending suspension of coach Ben Quittner and the forfeiture of 10 matches due to an ineligible player to win three matches in the Monta Vista Invitational. The Bears will compete in the PAL tourney against Woodside on Thursday at 5:45 p.m., but a win would put them against Menlo in the semifinals. If the Bears can't get past the Knights, their once-promising season likely will be over.

The Menlo-Atherton girls, however, are far from behing done. The Bears (22-6) are in the midst of one of their finest seasons ever after winning all four matches to capture the annual Lincoln Halloween Classic at Willow Glen.

The Bears thumped Presentation in the finals, 12-4, after getting by Los Altos in the semifinals, 8-7. Junior Kelly Eaton had a huge tourney with 19 goals and 30 steals. Junior Heidi Kucera added eight goals and seven steals while Kelly Fero contributed four goals and 10 assists. All three were named to the all-tournament team.
Cross country

Menlo-Atherton senior Evan Anderson tuned up for Thursday's PAL Championships at Crystal Springs by winning Center Meet No. 3 last Thursday in Belmont. He toured the 2.95-mile course in a season best of 15:41 to help the Bears finish fifth.
Girls golf

Menlo School's Kelly Ashton shot an 8-over-par 80 at Poplar Creek Golf Course to win medalist honors in the PAL Individual Tournament last week.

Menlo-Atherton juniors Theresa Tenisi and Salla Rapakko also earned all-league honors by tying for second place with rounds of 84 while Jordan Micek joined the group after shooting a 92. The Bears, who won the PAL regular-season title with a 15-0-1 record, competed Tuesday in the Central Coast Section qualifying tournament in Carmel Valley.
Football

Menlo-Atherton kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a victory, while a loss by Palo Alto last week put the Vikings in a win-or-else situation this week.

The Bears (3-3, 4-4) won their third straight with a 35-14 PAL Bay Division triumph over San Mateo (0-5, 1-7) last week. While the Bears are in fourth place with no chance to overtake third-place Burlingame (4-1, 6-2), a win at Capuchino on Friday (2:45 p.m.) will keep the Bears' CCS at-large hopes alive.

Jeremy Jordan rushed for 123 yards on 10 carries and scored on runs of 2 and 46 yards to spark the Bears, while quarterback Clark Hagman completed nine of 12 passes for 195 yards.

Palo Alto (3-2, 5-3) lost its second straight, a 29-28 nail-biter to visiting Milpitas last Friday night. The Vikings can clinch no worse than a second-place tie in the SCVAL De Anza Division by beating Homestead (1-3, 5-3) at Fremont High this Friday at 7:30 p.m.

A loss, however, could drop Paly all the way to fourth - costing the Vikings one of the division's three automatic CCS berths. Nathan Ford completed 13 of 24 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a fourth, but the Vikings allowed Milpitas to rally from a 28-17 deficit and pull out the victory with a 20-yard pass with just 12 seconds to play.
Girls tennis

Sacred Heart Prep wound up sharing the WCAL regular-season championship with St. Francis after the Lancers handed the Gators a 4-3 loss last week in Atherton. The match came down to the No. 1 doubles match, where SHP's Briana Currier and Alison Parker-Cole forced a third-set tiebreaker before finally succumbing to the Lancers' Michelle Watson and Jaclyn Schlemmer, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

The Gators (13-1, 21-4) bounced back from that big loss to beat Mitty in a makeup match the following day, 6-1.

Pinewood (10-0, 18-5) wrapped up another PSAL championship with a 7-0 win at Redwood Christian as Stephanie Herrmann, Elizabeth Williamson, Mele Pelea and Jessica Goldband swept the singles with only three games lost.
Girls volleyball

Palo Alto (11-0, 22-9), as expected, romped to its first-ever title in the sport with a 25-12, 25-15, 25-17 win over visiting Wilcox last week. Senior Katrina Zawojski led the way with 14 kills and 16 assists while Murray Koch added seven kills.

The Vikings will host rival Gunn in a nonleague match on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. It will be the final tuneups for both teams prior to CCS tournament play.

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