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March 18, 2004 SPORTS Bowling for Junior Achievement On March 13, five Almaden residents participated in the Bowl-A-Thon at Moonlight Bowl in Santa Clara to support Junior Achievement (JA). About 15 teams of five people bowled to support Junior Achievement of Santa Clara County. According to Special Events Director for Junior Achievement Raya Elias, the teams raised approximately $10,000 in support of JA. “We have Bowl-A-Thons year round,” says Elias, “The money raised is usually anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 up to the upper $20s.” Players of the Week Noah Lamoyne and Art Soshnikov Last week, Lamoyne and Soshnikov secured three victories and lost none versus Branham, Yerba Buena, and Piedmont Hills. The duo has helped Pioneer to a 3-0 start as a team. “They have great attitudes and are really playing well together,” said Pioneer Coach Julie Szarlacki. “A very nice combination. We usually don’t have a freshman good enough to play with the seniors, but Noah and Art get along great. Their personalities match.” Sara Chehrehsa Chehrehsa is the standout on the Bret Harte girls soccer team. According to Head Coach Massoud Shamshirian, “She’s my best player, a true, natural and complete soccer player. She’s a joyful kid with a great sense of humor. Her teammates like and respect her very much.” In Bret Harte’s victory over South Valley of Gilroy, Chehrehsa scored two goals and assisted one. Last Tuesday, she assisted the only goal that secured their victory over Britton. “Most importantly, she controlled the game and took away many scoring opportunities from Britton,” says Shamshirian, “Yesterday she was selected for the state team. I would say, ‘Watch out Mia Hamm, here comes Sara Chehrehsa!’” Sports Schedules Leland High School Thursday 3/18 Friday 3/19 Saturday 3/20 Monday 3/22 Tuesday 3/23 Wednesday 3/24 Pioneer High School Thursday 3/18 Friday 3/19 Monday 3/22 Tuesday 2/23 Wednesday 3/24 Track and Field Pioneer sails past S.J. High Academy Until the current crop of track and field athletes matures, Leland High School will be content to celebrate a modest collection of individual victories as the Chargers were overwhelmed, team-wise, by Silver Creek High School in season-opening competition last week on the West Valley College campus. Silver Creek’s boys ran up a 100-31 count against the Chargers while the Raider girls ruled their Leland counterparts 89-47. Out of 14 events in each division, this is the brutal truth: only three individual wins each for the Leland boys and girls teams. Charger Coach Jerry Rose points out that Leland has been among the leaders in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s superior Mount Hamilton division in recent years, but this season about 100 of his 128 athletes are freshmen and sophomores. When it comes to setting an example as quality performer, Leland senior Alex Ramon leads the pack. He was the Chargers’ only double winner, taking the 1600 meters in 4:34.2 and at 3200 meters in 10:08, the top times of the week in the BVAL. The only other winner among the Leland boys was junior Blake Ferras, a raw recruit who won the shot-put at 41 feet, 8 inches. Ferras, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound lineman on the Charger football team, became a shot-putter for the first time just two days before the meet. It was another newcomer, freshman Becca Rummell, who won the shot-put honors for the Leland girls with a 26-4 toss. Other winners for the Charger ladies were Shelley Shun, who took the 400 meters at 1:04.8, and Jessica Chen, the 300-meter hurdler winner at 50.4. All three girls are juniors. Rose calls Chen the best all-around athlete on the girls team. She placed second against Silver Creek in the 100-meter high hurdles, the 100-meter dash and the long jump. She also is a pole vaulter, but the event was not held. Rose noted that Chen is likely to participant on Leland’s 1600-meter relay when the BVAL championships are on the line May 4/6 (division) and May 13 (overall) at Mt. Pleasant High School. Many of the Chargers also participated in the Wildcat Relays held at Soquel High on Saturday, the best showing a third place (among 21 schools) by the girls in the 4x200 meters. The foursome was made up of Shun, Shiori Araki, Samatha Peters and Rose Ferroni. Leland will be back in action today (Thursday) visiting Overfelt High School. The Chargers have a bye next week, but will enter the Live Oak High School Relays on March 27. Pioneer topples San Jose High Academy Rolando Gomez and Sean Lopes were doubles winners for the boys and freshmen Elizabeth Bolender and Marissa Silver provided two wins each for the girls as Pioneer High School commenced BVAL West Valley division with convincing victories over San Jose High Academy, 79-49 and 102-16, respectively, at San Jose City College. Pioneer coach Mark Krail obviously didn’t have much to wring his hands about. “It was a great start on Thursday,” he said. There was a tremendous level of excitement, and team support for one another. Pioneer Track slipped last year, and our goal is to improve the attitude, commitment, and level of competition here at Pioneer. So far, so good.” The Mustangs return to BVAL dual-meet action today (Thursday) facing James Lick High School, at SJCC and will return to the same track again March 25 to encounter Lincoln High School. Sports Briefs The Leland softball team is off to a 4-0 start for the season. Their first league game isn't until next Tuesday, but Head Coach Joe Gron considers these games to be great practice for the girls. The Lady Chargers have a solid pitching staff between seniors Jamie Vranich, Kelly Harrison and sophomore Vanessa Truan, giving up only one run in four games. Gron says, "I'm very proud of their performance so far, we have a big week ahead of us and I'm hoping for the winning momentum to carry over into these games." The girls play Branham on Thursday, and will face Evergreen Valley and Piedmont Hills over the weekend. The Leland baseball team is finally stepping up their game. They completed a stellar performance in their five-inning, 24-2 pounding on Prospect Monday at West Valley College. The boys have a record of 3-4-2, and before Monday, the season looked to be a little rocky, especially after a 7-14 loss to Santa Cruz last week. “We had over 20 hits, and pitched flawlessly,” says Head Coach Scott Gillis. “Our team seems to be making serious strides toward realizing their potential. Its nice to get that kind of a performance so soon after our miserable play against Santa Cruz last week." The team will face Oak Grove on Wednesday, continuing Mt. Hamilton tournament play, which is scheduled to last until Saturday. The Leland boys volleyball team came out flat in their game against Oak Grove 25-26, 25-18 and 25-24 on Monday night. Leland is now 1-1 in the Santa Teresa Division and 4-3 overall. Head Coach Jason Hilbert says, “Oak Grove just came out stronger than we did. They were ready to play, we weren’t. They were a better team than us, today.” Hilbert mentioned one player in particular, outside hitter and middle blocker Tommy Phan as one of their standout players of the game. He racked up eight kills against Oak Grove on Monday. The boys play next in the Charger Classic Tournament on Saturday. The Pioneer baseball team is 2-0 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL after rallying past Independence 6-0 on March 15 and Del Mar High School scoring nine runs to Del Mar’s four runs on March 12. Head Coach Jake Hernandez says, "Our hitting is great, we've had pretty consistent pitching, and our overall attitude is a positive one.” In the Independence game, Senior Steve Miller threw for six innings, allowed one hit and struck out five. Sophomore second baseman Shaun Souza led the offense with a double, a triple, scoring two runs and one RBI. Valley Christian boys basketball team loses in NorCal finals, wins CCS championship The Valley Christian boys basketball team lost to St. Josephs of Alameda in the NorCal Finals on Saturday night, but ended their season with a 23-10 record and a CCS championship. "We've been building towards this for a couple of years, getting better each year," said Athletic Director Eric Scharrenberg. The boys haven't won a CCS title since 1993, and Scharrenberg considers the CCS runners-up title a big breakthrough for the team. A healthy start for Almaden Valley girls softball league’s opening day Members of the Almaden Valley Girls Softball League (AVGSL) celebrated their opening day last Saturday, and the snack shack celebrated a new beginning, offering healthy snacks for children and adults. “We wanted to clean it up a little bit. We are offering more organic foods, granola bars, fruit snacks, fruit and fruit drinks,” says Sue Kaloustian, snack shack representative. Kaloustian adds that sugary candy and soda is still available, but more healthy choices are now being offered. “We certainly have our share of sugar-filled things, but we’ve done away with more than half of the sugary offerings,” says Kaloustian. She also mentioned that they are lowering prices. “So we don’t feel like we’re gouging the public.” With the healthier snack shack, the AVGSL is offering the girls a positive environment. Their main goal is to promote a fun and positive environment, while the girls are learning and expanding their softball skills. They emphasize teamwork and give players a sense of belonging. Also, to keep confidence levels up, no player on any team sits out more than two innings during the game. This way, the girls are all contributing in a large part of the activities. Parents appreciate what Kaloustian and her crew at the AVGSL snack shack are trying to do. According to studies performed by the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS), more than a quarter of children aged 6 to 11 are obese. Among kids between 12 and 17, 25 percent of girls and 18 percent of boys are obese. They consider obesity an epidemic among children, especially considering that the number of overweight children has doubled in the past 30 years. Also found in UMHS studies, one out of four children who are obese at age 6 will be obese as an adult. Kaloustian admits that the snack shack did great on the first day. “Our more healthy snacks are selling really well! Lucky Leland girls open lacrosse season with solid victory Two days before St. Patty’s day, the lucky ladies of Leland High School opened up league with a resounding victory over visiting Castilleja High School in their inaugural Peninsula Athletic League season. The Chargers, lucky to join Menlo Atherton High School, Menlo School, Gunn High School, Woodside High School, and Castilleja as the exclusive members of the only girls lacrosse league in the South Bay, needed no luck to win. Led by senior Mona Mesbahi, who paced the Chargers with three goals, Leland overcame a close first half and outscored Castilleja three goals to one in the second, securing the victory. “We played pretty well as a team,” said Mesbahi, who plans to continue her lacrosse career beyond Leland and into college next fall. “That’s what Lacrosse is all about. It requires more teamwork than other sports.” Leland’s first year coach, Becky Crozier, was pleased with the outcome as well. “We played fairly well, considering it’s our first league game,” said Crozier. “We have a lot of good returners and our new players are learning to contribute. But today it was a little closer than I would have liked.” Leland’s roster boasts four returning seniors including Denise Yi, Angela Ngyuen, Ashley Harding, along with Mesbahi. “Lacrosse is a new, up and coming sport in the area,” said Crozier, whose credentials include playing at Santa Clara University. “A lot of the local colleges, such as Stanford and U.C. Berkley, went Division I, so I think it’s only going to get bigger in the local high schools.” As San Jose’s only girls lacrosse program, Leland is building a leg up on the competition that is sure to come as more and more girls learn about lacrosse. “It’s a great sport,” said Crozier. “It’s a lot like soccer, so if you’re into soccer it’s an easy transition. But you don’t need any experience to play either. It’s very different.” Next, the Chargers face Robert Louis Stevenson High School, in a nonleague contest, on Mar. 18 at Leland. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Leland girls hold their water, finish fifth out of 12 at the prestigious St. Francis Invitational The Leland High School girls swim team swam to the deep end and back last Saturday, when they took their talents to Mountain View and competed in the St. Francis Invitational versus 11 of the toughest swim teams in the section. In their first regular season meet of the year, Leland dipped their flippers, carving out a liter of respect that will propel them throughout the 2004 campaign. “I was pleased,” said Leland Coach Mike Haake. “I would have been ecstatic with a fourth place finish, but against that level of competition, with several perennial CCS Champions, such as Palo Alto High School and Archbishop Mitty High School, I was pleased with fifth.” Leland freshman Courtney Monsees was the only Charger to snag a first place medal, winning the 400 Individual Medley. Monsees, who was the only freshman to win an individual event at the meet, narrowly missed winning her second. During the 1000-yard freestyle race Monsees poured it on late in the race, giving a dramatic chase before losing by two-tenths of a second. “If it was the 1005-yard free, she [Monsees] would have got it,” said Haake. Charger Melanie Plott also placed at St. Francis, finishing sixth in both the 50 free 50 back. This week, Leland hosts Mt. Pleasant High School on Friday, defending their 2003 Blossom Valley Athletic League, Mount Hamilton Division championship for the first time in 2004. The following morning, Leland will take their swim and dance routine over the hill to Santa Cruz where they will compete in the Santa Cruz Relays at San Lorenzo Valley High School. Pioneer boys swinging for success, undefeated in early tennis season At 3-0, the Pioneer High School boys tennis team has matched the sweltering March sun move for move. Between March 9 and March 16, the Mustangs have scorched three unlucky opponents while we lucky Bay Arean’s celebrated the most enjoyable month of 2004. However, Pioneer’s number-one Kareem Berdai injured his back and is questionable for the Mustang’s next match versus Overfelt High School at Overfelt on March 18. Overfelt reportedly has one of the toughest singles attacks in the Blossom Valley Athletic League, Santa Teresa Division. “Overfelt will be a tough match,” said Pioneer junior and number-two singles man Bret Levine. “We’re pretty balanced when everybody’s healthy, but Kareem might not play, so it’s gonna be tough.” Several Mustangs have the capability to step up in Berdai’s absence. Levine, a senior, will jump into the number-one spot, while senior Marcus Nakamoto and junior Ben Cooper are expected to move up in the lineup as well. In doubles, second year Pioneer Coach Julie Szarlacki, expects that her top three duos will continue their winning ways. Thus far freshman Noah Lamoyne and senior Art Soshnikov have shone forming an age-based odd couple that is undefeated at 3-0. “We’ve done really well so far,” said Szarlacki, of her team’s undefeated start. “We want to try and have a good attitude all year long, so as long as we keep the racquet in our hands it’s a success.” Pioneer’s most recent success came March 16, when the Mustangs defeated Piedmont Hills High School in seven individual matches, securing the sweep for their third victory in STAL competition. Pioneer chalked wins in singles for Berdai, Levine, Nakamoto, and Cooper. Doubles victories were awarded to Lamoyne and Soshnikov, Justin Kulish and Andy Wilder, and Adam Gregerson and Gleb Yavorkovsky.
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