Publication Date: Friday, March 18, 2005
PREP ROUNDUP
Swimmers set for fast times
Swimmers set for fast times
(March 18, 2005) Early season efforts bode well for league and the section finals
by Keith Peters
The Central Coast Section swimming and diving championships will return to Stanford this spring for the first time in many years. The Avery Aquatic Center will provide the perfect setting, with a fast pool awaiting expected fast times.
Local swimmers already are in fine shape in the quest to qualify for what could be one of the fastest section meets in recent years. Preparations continue this weekend and next on two fronts - a big age-group meet in Clovis and a junior national competition that starts next week in Orlando, Fla.
A group of 10 local swimmers from the Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics (PASA) Swim Club will be heading to Orlando. Among that group is Palo Alto senior Monika Friedman, Menlo's Maryann Hiller plus Sacred Heart Prep sophomore Kameron Flores-Maxfield and freshman Alex Navarro.
All four have posted fast early season times while competing for their respective schools.
Friedman swam a CCS-leading 5:13.61 to win the 500-yard free on Tuesday, helping Palo Alto (3-0) swim past host Menlo-Atherton, 101-68. Times in that event will drop dramatically over the next month and a half.
Friedman also won the 100 fly in 1:00.11 to lower her season best, which still ranks No. 4 in the CCS.
Menlo-Atherton junior Kelly Eaton, who ranks second in the CCS in the 100 back, won her specialty in 1:01.11 and led off the Bears' winning 200 medley relay that clocked 1:54.18. M-A
M-A swam 1:53.81 last week against Menlo to rank No. 2 in the CCS this season.
Junior Heidi Kucera, who swims the breaststroke leg of the relay, won the 100 breast against Paly in 1:09.28. She has twice broken the school record, first with a 1:09.19 and again with a 1:08.18.
Paly won six races and M-A five, but the Vikings added seven runnerup finishes to make the difference.
In the boys' meet, sophomore Peter Lo won two events and junior Edward Morrison followed suit to pace Paly to an easy 129-41 nonleague victory. Morrison's 54.91 in the 100 fly moved him among the CCS leaders.
Hiller, the CCS leader in the 100 breast at 1:06.45, helped the Menlo girls win their first dual meet of the season with a 103-67 nonleague triumph over visiting Carmel on Tuesday.
Flores-Maxfield and Navarro have helped the Sacred Heart Prep boys race to a 3-0 start this season, with Navarro ranking No. 2 in the CCS in the 500 free (4:54.02) and Flores-Maxfield No. 2 in the 100 breast (1:01.56).
Sacred Heart Prep's Tiffany Yim has led the Gators to a 3-0 start, setting school records in the 100 breast (1:09.33) and 100 back (1:01.73).
Many of the top girls' teams will compete Saturday in the annual St. Francis Invitational, beginning at 9 a.m.
Baseball
Gunn (4-0, 5-2) continued its winning ways in the SCVAL El Camino Division this week with a 7-2 win over host Monta Vista.
Brent Gardiner pitched a complete-game for the Titans, striking out seven and walking just one. He also had three hits, including a double, and scored twice.
Gardiner got his double in the third with his team holding a 1-0 lead. Sam Zipperstein lined out to first, but Nate Urbassik followed with an RBI double. After Ryan McDermott walked, Mike Myers singled through the left side for one of his three hits to load the bases.
Colin Felch then lashed into the first pitch he saw and ripped a grand slam to left. That was all Gardiner needed to make the victory stand up.
Gunn will host Santa Clara on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., hoping to keep its winning streak intact.
Palo Alto saw its winning streak end Wednesday in a 4-1 loss at Los Gatos. The Wildcats (3-0) took over sole possession of the SCVAL De Anza Division race with the triumph, knocking the Vikings (2-1, 4-3) into a third-place tie behind second-place Wilcox (2-0).
Menlo School (5-5) evened its record with a 9-0 romp over host Pacific Grove earlier this week in the NorCal Tournament.
The Knights and Breakers have met in the CCS playoffs four of the past eight years with Pacific Grove taking three straight until last year, when Menlo posted a 5-0 victory on the way to its first section crown in 15 years.
John Liu needed only 82 pitches to record the victory, while Andy Suiter had two hits and three RBI.
Menlo-Atherton opened PAL Bay Division play by dropping a 4-3 game to Half Moon bay Wednesday at Cougar Stadium.
M-A was down 3-0 after two innings but battled back and had the tying run on base several times but was unable to produce the big hit. David Klein and Tyler Finley each doubled in a run but were left stranded. M-A had four base runners thrown out during the contest.
Domenic Di Ricco pitched a complete game for the Bears, striking out seven and walking one.
The Bears and the Cougars play again today at Flood Park at 3:15.
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