TheLounge
11-05-2007, 01:00 PM
The Carlmont girls’ cross country team made a statement that they are set on winning another Central Coast Section team title. They just made their move five days later than they thought.
The Lady Scots were expecting big things at the prestigious Mt. SAC Invitational Oct. 20 but they fell flat on their collective spaces.
Carlmont coach Jeff Gilkey said he was so disappointed he wasn’t even mad. But he was not going to let that bad taste linger for too long. In a surprising move, Gilkey had the team run in the PAL Center Meet #3 at the Crystal Springs course Thursday. Not too take anything away from the center meet, but the caliber of competitive isn’t always the best. When a team is thinking CCS titles and entertaining the thought of top-3 state performance, teams like Carlmont are looking to be pushed in the big competitions —*like Mt. SAC.
Thursday, they pushed themselves to an unprecedented performance. The Lady Scots became the first high school team to have six runners cover the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course in less than 19 minutes. Haley Pascale — this week’s Athlete of the Week — shattered the 18-minute barrier with a time of 17:48. Justine Fedronic also came in under 18 minutes with a 17:59. Mary Rhodes (18:12), Jessie Petersen (18:39), Georgia Cotton (18:42) and Tamara Abinader (18:46) gave the Lady Scots six of the top-10 finishers.
“We weren’t going to run that meet Thursday,” Gilkey said. “You plan everything to run (well) at Mt. SAC and instead we run well five days later.
“They all ran bad at Mt. SAC. I knew we were 100 times better than that. I told them you’re running Thursday to show it wasn’t a fluke.”
With the PAL championships looming Thursday at Crystal Springs, the Scots announced they’re the team to beat.
Good luck to the rest of the PAL.
***
As good as the Menlo-Atherton girls’ tennis team was last season, the Bears are better this year. They’re virtually the same team, just a year older and a more seasoned.
Last season, the Menlo-Atherton girls’ tennis team compiled a remarkable record of 18-1. The Bears went undefeated in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division, became the first Ocean Division team to win the PAL team tournament and advanced to the second round of the Central Coast Section tournament. This year, the Bears are 16-5 playing in the PAL’s Bay Division.
The postseason just started last week and if the Bears’ performance was any indication, they’re poised for another deep CCS run this season. They played two matches in the PAL team tournament last week, dropping just one match in earning the PAL’s second automatic CCS berth, with two of those losses coming to Menlo School.
San Mateo has first-hand knowledge about M-A’s power. The Bearcats played the Bears the semifinals the last two years and were beaten 7-0 and 7-0 Thursday. Friday, the Bears completed their domination, beating Burlingame 6-1 for their second straight PAL team tournament championship. Justine Huang was the Panthers’ lone winner while M-A’s Marietta Tuionetoa and Marjorie Adams won in straight sets in singles. Julia Peck-Heidi Galbraith won in straight sets at No. 1 doubles as well.
While Menlo School continues to be the gold standard in the PAL, M-A closed the gap considerably the last two seasons. The Knights were actually pushed by M-A twice this season — the closest any public school from the PAL has come to beating them since Menlo entered the league.
There is a good chance the Bears could break Menlo’s stranglehold on the individual PAL titles this week and real shot at advancing to the quarterfinal or semifinals of CCS.
***
It appears Toddler Lounge has some land-based sports skills as well. I’ve mentioned in the past that my 4-year-old daughter loves the water —*making a water polo player or swimmer a real possibility —*but it now looks like soccer and basketball could be in her future.
At a Halloween Carnival over the weekend, the organizers set up a miniature soccer goal and two small soccer balls. Toddler Lounge walks right up, swings her right leg and drills a shot into the back of the net. After she grew bored of soccer and headed over to the basketball goal, that was lowered to seven feet from the standard 10. Toddler Lounge grabbed the small basketball, and underhanded a shot —*nothing but net. She sank her first shot —ever — on a regulation hoop.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.
The Lady Scots were expecting big things at the prestigious Mt. SAC Invitational Oct. 20 but they fell flat on their collective spaces.
Carlmont coach Jeff Gilkey said he was so disappointed he wasn’t even mad. But he was not going to let that bad taste linger for too long. In a surprising move, Gilkey had the team run in the PAL Center Meet #3 at the Crystal Springs course Thursday. Not too take anything away from the center meet, but the caliber of competitive isn’t always the best. When a team is thinking CCS titles and entertaining the thought of top-3 state performance, teams like Carlmont are looking to be pushed in the big competitions —*like Mt. SAC.
Thursday, they pushed themselves to an unprecedented performance. The Lady Scots became the first high school team to have six runners cover the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course in less than 19 minutes. Haley Pascale — this week’s Athlete of the Week — shattered the 18-minute barrier with a time of 17:48. Justine Fedronic also came in under 18 minutes with a 17:59. Mary Rhodes (18:12), Jessie Petersen (18:39), Georgia Cotton (18:42) and Tamara Abinader (18:46) gave the Lady Scots six of the top-10 finishers.
“We weren’t going to run that meet Thursday,” Gilkey said. “You plan everything to run (well) at Mt. SAC and instead we run well five days later.
“They all ran bad at Mt. SAC. I knew we were 100 times better than that. I told them you’re running Thursday to show it wasn’t a fluke.”
With the PAL championships looming Thursday at Crystal Springs, the Scots announced they’re the team to beat.
Good luck to the rest of the PAL.
***
As good as the Menlo-Atherton girls’ tennis team was last season, the Bears are better this year. They’re virtually the same team, just a year older and a more seasoned.
Last season, the Menlo-Atherton girls’ tennis team compiled a remarkable record of 18-1. The Bears went undefeated in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division, became the first Ocean Division team to win the PAL team tournament and advanced to the second round of the Central Coast Section tournament. This year, the Bears are 16-5 playing in the PAL’s Bay Division.
The postseason just started last week and if the Bears’ performance was any indication, they’re poised for another deep CCS run this season. They played two matches in the PAL team tournament last week, dropping just one match in earning the PAL’s second automatic CCS berth, with two of those losses coming to Menlo School.
San Mateo has first-hand knowledge about M-A’s power. The Bearcats played the Bears the semifinals the last two years and were beaten 7-0 and 7-0 Thursday. Friday, the Bears completed their domination, beating Burlingame 6-1 for their second straight PAL team tournament championship. Justine Huang was the Panthers’ lone winner while M-A’s Marietta Tuionetoa and Marjorie Adams won in straight sets in singles. Julia Peck-Heidi Galbraith won in straight sets at No. 1 doubles as well.
While Menlo School continues to be the gold standard in the PAL, M-A closed the gap considerably the last two seasons. The Knights were actually pushed by M-A twice this season — the closest any public school from the PAL has come to beating them since Menlo entered the league.
There is a good chance the Bears could break Menlo’s stranglehold on the individual PAL titles this week and real shot at advancing to the quarterfinal or semifinals of CCS.
***
It appears Toddler Lounge has some land-based sports skills as well. I’ve mentioned in the past that my 4-year-old daughter loves the water —*making a water polo player or swimmer a real possibility —*but it now looks like soccer and basketball could be in her future.
At a Halloween Carnival over the weekend, the organizers set up a miniature soccer goal and two small soccer balls. Toddler Lounge walks right up, swings her right leg and drills a shot into the back of the net. After she grew bored of soccer and headed over to the basketball goal, that was lowered to seven feet from the standard 10. Toddler Lounge grabbed the small basketball, and underhanded a shot —*nothing but net. She sank her first shot —ever — on a regulation hoop.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.