October 24, 2005

Evergreen Sports

Evergreen Valley slips past Mt. Pleasant 21-20

Cougars hand Cardinals first loss of the season

By Ken Lotich
Staff Writer

The Evergreen Valley High School varsity football team squeaked past Mt. Pleasant High School to spoil its homecoming spirits in a nail-biting 21-20 contest on Oct. 14.

Evergreen Valley running back Justin Stephens looks to block Mt. Pleasant’s Marco Sousa. Photo by Ken Lotich

With the win, the Cougars sit at 2-1 in the Santa Teresa division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League and 4-2 overall.

The Cardinals picked up their first mark in the loss column, putting them at 1-1 in league, and 5-1 overall.

“These guys played great—you have to give all the credit to Mt. Pleasant,” said Evergreen Valley head coach Dee Quinet after the game. “We’re very lucky to get this win.”

Evergreen Valley started off the game strong, scoring all of its touchdowns in the first half. The Cougars were shut out in the second half.

“We made a lot of mental mistakes today,” Quinet said. “We had too many penalties—this is the worst we’ve ever played.”

Down 21-14 at the half, Mt. Pleasant attempted a comeback, but came up just short as the minutes wound off the clock.

With 4:18 left in the third quarter, Cardinals’ quarterback David Jahn kept the ball on 3rd-and-goal for a 5-yard touchdown run, trailing Evergreen Valley by one point, 21-20.

The kick was then blocked on the extra point attempt, which ended up sealing the win for Evergreen Valley.

Mt. Pleasant did make it into the end zone again, but not until 8:46 left in the fourth quarter. Jahn tossed a shuffle pass to receiver Nobel Smith on 4th-and-6 for what appeared to give the Cardinals the lead. However, the play was called back because of a holding penalty.

On the next play, EVHS defensive back Javier Martinez picked off the ball in the end zone, effectively killing the momentum for Mt. Pleasant.

Mt. Pleasant head coach Clancey O’Hara said he was disappointed to lose the heartbreaker. Despite the loss, O’Hara said he thought the defense played strong in the second half—while the offense struggled a bit.

“I don’t think we came out aggressively,” O’Hara said. “(Evergreen Valley) dictated the flow of the game initially.

“(Evergreen Valley’s) a real tough team defensively,” he added. “We had too many breakdowns on offense.”

Despite the loss, O’Hara said he was pleased with the effort his squad made in trying to come back from a deficit.

“They went into the second half challenged, and I respected their efforts in trying to come back,” he said.

Mt. Pleasant was led by running back Terry Loveluce, who had 126 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns.

Evergreen Valley quarterback Marcus Juarez went 10-for-12 passing for 112 yards. Receiver Andrew Portillo had 60 yards receiving on the evening.

For Evergreen Valley, Quinet said he expects future games to be like the one against Mt. Pleasant.

“We’re in for a war every single game now,” Quinet said about the upcoming schedule.

The tennis blues

Silver Creek Valley Country Club tennis facilities
get new look with U.S. Open blue courts

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

Tennis enthusiasts at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club are seeing blue.

That’s because the six tennis courts at the country club have recently been resurfaced in blue, similar to the U.S. Open tennis courts at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, located in Queens, N.Y.

The renovation of the courts began approximately six weeks ago and took two weeks to complete, as the courts were resurfaced by pouring a goo-like mixture of concrete and other agents to form a plexicushion surface, allowing better bounce and more forgiveness on the body while playing.

GO BLUE. Members of the Silver Creek Valley Country Club are seeing tennis in a new light with the new blue courts at the tennis facilities. The club is the first in the country with the new blue courts, which are similar to the U.S. Open tennis courts in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Photo by Diego Abeloos

The new courts have been a hit with members, said tennis director John Huebner, and have the tennis pros at the club feeling like kids in a candy store.

“It’s invigorating. I think the blue color gives people a sense of happiness,” said Huebner, who has served as tennis director at the club for seven years. “I don’t know whether colors do that, but this color definitely brightens up the area. Now that we feel like we’re playing on the U.S. Open courts like the pros do, it gets everybody excited. It makes us feel like Roger Federer.”

SCVCC is the first club in the country to try the new blue courts, said Huebner, who added that the club paid an extra $5 per gallon for licensing fees to use the color, since the U.S. Open copyrighted the color, known as U.S. Open blue.

In addition to the new courts, Huebner said the club also had new lights installed for the courts. The process for installing the new courts and lights, which Huebner said cost approximately $70,000, began more than a year ago through a fund-raiser that saw local real estate agents and other companies contribute money for the lights. Many of those local companies also sponsor local tennis teams that play at the country club’s courts.

Huebner added that the old green-on-green courts had to be replaced because of 10 years of wear and tear. The tennis facilities at the club typically see more than 400 hours of booked time each week by the club’s tennis participants, something Huebner calls court compaction.

“They were a little stale and a little old-fashioned,” Huebner said of the old courts. “We were looking for a change in color anyway, and when this became available, we decided to jump on it.”

But the new blue surface isn’t only beneficial on an aesthetic level. In addition, the courts will also allow players to see the bright yellow tennis ball better during play. The new plexicushion surface also provides a truer bounce to the ball, said Huebner, and is more forgiving on the body than the traditional surface.

“It’s a little more comfortable to play,” said Huebner. “Especially for us tennis pros, if we’re out here on the courts for five, six or seven hours, it’s a lot easier on our bodies. The ball bounces up a little easier. The surface itself has more grip, so it feels better with footing.”

The next step for Huebner is hosting the first large-scale event on the new courts. On Oct. 29, the new courts will be the site of the Tennis Calcutta, an annual tennis tournament by the club where members wager on eight-member teams put together by Huebner. Typically, the tournament will host 70 to 80 players. Huebner expects those numbers to go up this year.

“Because of the courts, I think we’ll have a bigger signup than we’ve ever had,” Huebner said of the tournament. “People who haven’t had a chance to play on it will want to play on it.”

For more information on the Silver Creek Valley Country Club, go to www.scvcc.com.

Silver Creek creeps past Pioneer in Mt. Hamilton tennis action

By Ken Lotich
Staff Writer

The Silver Creek High School girls’ tennis team won 5-2 in its second contest against Pioneer High School this year. Earlier this season, the Raiders topped the Mustangs 6-1.

Diane LuTran, No. 1 singles for Silver Creek, gets ready to serve the ball against Pioneer’s Kameron Brown. LuTran won 6-1, 6-0.

With the win, the Raiders improve to 2-7, while the Mustangs drop to 3-6.

No. 1 singles Diane LuTran, a sophomore for the Raiders, won easily, defeating senior Kameron Brown of Pioneer 6-1, 6-0.

No. 2 singles Silver Creek’s Andrea Kennedy beat the Mustangs’ Caroline Tran, 6-4, 6-0.

No. 3 Jennifer Lau, a Silver Creek freshman, came back after dropping the first set to win her match against Mustang junior Giana Flores, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

The only wins for the Mustangs came from No. 4 singles Justine Kirkeide and No. 2 doubles Caitlin Burnham and Shira Straus.

Kirkeide defeated the Radiers’ Lynn To 6-2, 6-0.

The Mustang duo of Burnham and Straus won 6-0, 6-1 against Raiders Katie Tang and Dolly Ngo.

In other doubles’ action, No. 1 doubles Sandy Mach and Lorawn Dupree of Silver Creek won 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 against Karen Quigley and Nadia Berdai.

No. 3 doubles Thi Chung and Laura Nguyen of the Raiders defeated Kim Nguyen and Katrina Huynh 7-6, 6-4.

The Mustangs, who used to compete at the B level, are in their second year as an A level team. Coach Julie Szarlacki, who is in her eighth year as girls’ tennis coach, hopes to help her players improve their games.

Longtime Silver Creek coach Gary Zellner said this year’s Raider team is the youngest A-league team he’s coached in a while. Zellner, who has also coached boys’ tennis, said he enjoys instructing girls’ tennis more.

“Guys have more of an ego, as well as short tempers,” Zellner said. “These girls play as a team, and they win and lose as a team.”

Evergreen Valley volleyball snags first place with 3-1 win against Santa Teresa

Cougars get 18 kills from Mikalia Johnson; improve to 6-1 in league play

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

A battle for first place in the Santa Teresa Division saw the Evergreen Valley Cougars pull out a 3-1 win against Santa Teresa in volleyball action on Oct. 13.

Evergreen’s Jennifer Ames (left) and Lilea Eshoo team up for a block during a 3-1 win against Santa Teresa on Oct. 13. Photo by Diego Abeloos

Both teams came into the game with identical 5-1 league records, sharing a tie for first place in the division before the Cougars pulled out 27-25, 25-16, 10-25 and 25-18 scores for a win and sole possession of the top spot in the division.

“I’m very happy. The girls really fought for it and were ready to play,” said Evergreen Valley head coach Diorena Aguinaldo. “We had a great practice yesterday. We scouted Santa Teresa, and we did the things we wanted to do. I’m very proud of the girls. They worked hard and fought for every point.”

Game one featured a tightly contested match that saw the Cougars bounce back from a 25-24 deficit with three straight points to take a 27-25 win. The three-point rally included a kill from Mikalia Johnson, who led the Cougars and the game with 18 kills overall.

Johnson played a key role in the final game of the match as well, providing a kill during a five-point run to close out game four with a 25-18 win.

“(Mikalia) is a senior, and we definitely expect a lot from her,” Aguinaldo said of Johnson. “There’s time during the season where we’ve had to move her around in the lineup. Today she proved that she is a great hitter and she can adapt to any situation.”

Game two was the antithesis of game one, as the Cougars went up 16-13 early before going on a 6-1 run that saw a kill and an ace from Evergreen’s Lilea Eshoo, as well as a kill from Krista Frausto. Those efforts were coupled with a pair of hitting mistakes from Santa Teresa that saw one kill attempt sail out of bounds while another kill attempt hit the middle of the net to help the Cougars’ run.

Later in game two, the Cougars extended their 22-16 lead and finished off a win with three straight points, including a tip and a kill from Jennifer Ames for a 25-16 win.

Aguinaldo said she cautioned her players after game two to not let down on their intensity. Earlier in the season, the Cougars were down 2-0 at Santa Teresa, only to bounce back with a 3-2 win.

“When you’re up 2-0, that’s when as a coach you want to try and make sure that the girls stay focused,” Aguinaldo said. “We didn’t want it to be like what happened at Santa Teresa.”

But things didn’t go the Cougars’ way in game three.

With a chance to finish off the Saints in three straight games, the Cougars fell behind quickly 14-8 before allowing the Saints to go on an 11-2 run and take game three 25-10.

“Our trademark as a team is passing and defense, and we definitely didn’t have that passing and defense in game three,” Aguinaldo said. “You can tell in game three that Santa Teresa pretty much took over.”

The tide quickly changed in Evergreen Valley’s favor once more in game four, but not without a few hiccups along the way.

The Cougars jumped out to a 10-6 lead early, only to see the Saints bounce back and tie the game 12-12 before briefly taking a 15-12 lead on a pair of Cougar passing errors.

The Cougars then managed to gather themselves and go on an 8-1 run, fueled by kills from Amy Chew, Ames and Frausto, who also recorded an ace on a serve in the process.

With a 20-16 lead in hand, the Cougars allowed only two more points to the Saints before finishing off game four with five straight points for a 25-18 win and a 3-1 win overall to take first place in the Santa Teresa Division.

“I think the girls are starting to realize that no team is going to let down. They’re not going to let us take that win,” Aguinaldo said. “Every practice, we try and give pressure situations to our team … and so these girls are used to that pressure. They’re finally starting to find that killer instinct.”

City hall suits vs. media hacks: ‘Stair Challenge to the 18th Floor’

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

The gauntlet was thrown down by energetic San Jose City Councilmember Ken Yeager to members of the media: Meet at City Hall on Oct. 11 and prepare to be embarrassed.

Clockwise, from bottom left: Mercury News reporter Pat Lopez-Harris, Metro reporter Todd Inoue, Councilmember Dave Cortese, Times staff writer Diego Abeloos, Mercury News columnist Leigh Weimers, Councilmember Forrest Williams, Councilmember Ken Yeager, Mercury News reporter Janice Rombeck and Councilmember Madison Nguyen breathe sighs of relief after making the climb. Photo by Candy Richter

The goal was to climb the 17 flights of stairs up to the 18th floor where the city’s top dogs gaze out their floor-to-ceiling windows at their kingdom below.

Yeager, who showed up for the challenge wearing an intimidating “I climbed Mt. Whitney” T-shirt, came up with the idea while conversing with Mercury News columnist Leigh Weimers about trying to promote one of his pet projects: increasing the health and fitness of the citizens of San Jose.

“One way to publicize this was to pair up council members with the city press corps as a way to bring attention to healthier lifestyles,” said Yeager. “We also wanted to get employees to take the stairs more and integrate physical fitness into their everyday lives. We advertised it last week through e-mails and had a tremendous turnout. Leigh and I were the first two up and when we got to the top, health packets and water bottles were handed out.”

Paramedics stood watch on the ninth floor—just in case.

“I knew this was a competition the elected officials could win,” said Yeager with a cocky air. “I’d say reporters are generally out of shape.”

Other council members participating were Forrest Williams and Madison Nguyen donning sweatsuits, an athletic shoe-wearing Nancy Pyle, and Councilmembers Dave Cortese and Chuck Reed decked out in their office duds. Reed even carried his brief case during the challenge (no word if it contained oxygen or not).

Each council member was paired with a member of the media and they went up two by two clutching timers. A warning was issued about pushing, shoving and tripping but at least one challenger we know (who will remain nameless) did not heed the warning.

Members of the press participating in the challenge included Times writers Diego Abeloos and Kymberli Brady, and reporters from the Mercury News, the Metro and Silicon Valley Community Newspapers. The T.V. folks sat this one out.
The stairwells were filled with more than 100 other city hall staffers making the climb, including City Auditor Jerry Davis and City Attorney Rick Doyle.

Reed did his homework. He passed out cards with “City Hall Stairs Challenge Fun Facts.” They included:

- 17 flights of stairs up to the 18th floor

- 417 steps

- 243 feet

- 120 times up from sea level to summit of Mt. Everest

- 80 times up to go from the nearest airport to the summit

- 47 times up to go from base camp to the summit of Mt. Everest

On the flip side of the card were warnings about the normal physiologic changes that occur in every person who goes to a higher altitude, such as shortness of breath, increased urination and weird dreams, along with a detailed list of symptoms of acute mountain sickness.

At the end of the challenge, the times were tallied with Metro reporter Todd Inoue taking first place with a time of 2 minutes and 49 seconds.

“It was fun competing against the suits, now if you’ll excuse me I’m going down to the ninth floor to find my left lung,” said Almaden Times Weekly Sports Writer Diego Abeloos after the climb.

Just days after running the Almaden Times Classic 10k, Yeager was crowing about the success of the event. “We are definitely going to make it an annual event. I was so heartened that we had 125 employees walk up the steps. But the real measure of success is if we can get more employees to take the stairs throughout the year.”

Evergreen middle schools fare well in CC division championship

First place in three races

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Seven middle schools competed in the Cross Country Division Championship at Chaboya Middle School on Oct 12, and Evergreen School District made a strong showing in the top 10 runners in each category.

(From left) Eighth-grade boys who made it to the top 10 include Larry Melton (9), Ian Karlsson (1), David Yang (6), Adam Galvan (8), Marleo Orpia (4), Justin Finuliar (5) and Chijoke Nuuzi (7).

The Willow Glen Rams, Valley Christian Warriors, Sylvandale Bears and Bret Harte Broncos traveled to compete with Evergreen’s Chaboya Colts, Quimby Lobos and LeyVa Bull Dogs in the 2.1-mile race.

“Mr. Spengler and I are very proud of the team’s performance at the division finals,” said Jaime O’Brien, one of Quimby Oak’s cross-country coaches. “They have worked hard all season and it shows, as we had 40 out of 42 runners ribbon.” According to O’Brien’s calculations, Quimby Oak took first overall at the division championship.

Although the first 30 runners in each category received ribbons, the Evergreen Times focused on the results of any Evergreen-based runners who made it to the top 10 in their category.

“C” Girls and “C” Boys
The C girls, which include sixth graders or girls under 5 feet tall, started the race. Although Almaden Valley’s Bret Harte snagged the first three places, Evergreen schools took the remaining seven slots in the top ten with the following times:

4. Kelly Quick Chaboya 15:42
5. Nicole Reyes Quimby Oak 16:05
6. Shahelle Katzman Chaboya 16:49
7. Sierra Lara Quimby 16:59
8. Jezelle Cutia Quimby 17:13
9. Desiree Escalante Chaboya 17:32
10. Erika Torres Chaboya 17:41

Next came the C boys. Bret Harte once again took the number one and two slots, but only three Evergreen boys placed in the Top 10 in this race. Sylvandale and Willow Glen filled in the rest.

Eighth-grade C boy Pablo Borceguin of Quimby Oak came in fourth place at 13:53. LeyVa C Boys—seventh grader Sorony Hiep and eighth-grader Nick Berg—took seventh and eighth with times of 15:01 and 15:13 respectively.

Seventh-Grade Girls and Boys
In the seventh-grade girls’ race, Evergreen saw its first number one runner in Kelsey Foo from Chaboya, who came in at 15:10.

Five more seventh-grade girls from Evergreen joined her in the top 10: Raina Adams from Chaboya took third at 15:13, Nemisis Garcia from LeyVa took fourth at 15:44, Claire Satterwhite from Quimby Oak took fifth with 16:33, Paige Aiono from Quimby Oak took eighth at 16:45 and Ana Rocobal from LeyVa took ninth at 16:54. Valley Christian and Willow Glen runners filled in the rest of the Top 10 slots.

Evergreen schools landed the first four places in the seventh-grade boys’ race. Quimby Oak’s Michael Ngo took first place for at 14:10, Chaboya’s William Ramaekers took second at 14:23, and Quimby Oak’s Calvin Wong and James Baker took third and fourth place, at 14:27 and 14:33, respectively.

Quimby Oak’s Nghat-Dang Do edged in ninth place at 15:24 and LeyVa’s John Lucero squeaked into the tenth slot at 15:55.

Eighth Grade Girls and Boys
Two Bret Harte girls snatched the No. 1 and 2 slots in the eighth grade girls’ race, but Evergreen dominated the next eight positions in the top 10:

(From left) Eighth grade girls in the top 10 of the division championship included Back row: Chris Larson (5), Dani Ostler (10) and Kristin Walker (7). Front row: Brittany Calvetti (8), Jacky Zuniga (6), Riyana Straetker (3), Ana Plascencia (4) and Valerie Burciaga (9).

3. Riyana Straetker Quimby Oak 14:27
4. Ana Plascencia LeyVa 14:33
5. Chris Larson Chaboya 15:01
6. Jacky Zuniga Chaboya 15:27
7. Kristin Walker Chaboya 15:40
8. Brittany Calvetti Quimby Oak 15:45
9. Valerie Burciago LeyVa 15:57
10 Dani Ostler Quimby Oak 16:00

Chaboya’s Ian Karlsson took first place in the eighth-grade boys’ race at 12:28. Marleo Orpia and Justin Finuliar of Quimby Oak took fourth and fifth, with times of 13:14 and 13:21 respectively. Chaboya’s David Yang took sixth at 13:29, and LeyVa’s Chijoke Nuuzi took seventh at 13:40. Adam Galvan of Quimby Oak took the eighth slot at 13:41 and Larry Melton of Chaboya squeaked in ninth place at 13:45.