Saratoga senior Jesse Alejandro turns the corner on his way to a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters at the CCS track championships at Los Gatos.

Savastopoulos a CCS champion

Alejandro, La, Stewens all place in section meet

By Dick Sparrer

Alexi Savastopoulos has done better.

Still, you won't catch the Saratoga senior complaining too much about his showing in the high jump at the Central Coast Section track and field championships at Los Gatos recently.

After all, how could Savastopoulos complain about winning a CCS championship.

Savastopoulos topped the high jump bar at 6-5.5 to finish first at the section finals, that after finishing third in the league finals, tying for third at the CCS North Subsection meet and ending up second in the CCS semifinals.

The high-flying Falcon nailed a personal best 6-6 for second at the semifinals, but came back to win the section title, even though his effort was a half-inch shorter. His jump of 6-6 at the semi's topped his previous best by four inches.

"He was just short of his personal best of 6-6," said Saratoga coach Marshall Clark. "But it was good enough to be the champion!"

Clark was pleased with the showing of Savastopoulos and the rest of his Falcons at the section meet.

"In a pleasant surprise, the Falcons had three state meet qualifiers," said Clark, "led by [Savastopoulos] in the high jump and 800-meter runners Jesse Alejandro and David La."

Alejandro raced to a fourth in the 800 in 1:55.26 and La finished sixth in 1:56.11. Both times were personal bests for the two Falcons. Alejandro had run 1:57.61 to win his heat at the semifinals and La ran 1:58.96 to finish third in his heat.

Alejandro teamed with Arnold Chu, David Cheng and Devin Schrock to run seventh in the 4x100 relay in 43.64. Alejandro, Chu, Cheng and John Griffin had run 43.80 to finish eighth in the semi's.

The quartet of Cheng, D. La, Richard La and Alejandro ran 3:26.86 to finish ninth in the 4x400 relay at the semifinals, missing a berth in the section finals by less than half a second.

The Falcons ended up 10th in the team standings at the CCS finals.

Savastopoulos went on to place at the state meet in Sacramento last weekend, finishing ninth in the high jump at 6-2.

Saratoga also soared to great heights in the girls high jump at the CCS meet with senior Julia Stewens placing among the leaders.

Stewens, the league champion in the event, flew 5-4 to place sixth in the section finals for the Falcons.

"She completed an outstanding season for Saratoga and placed at the CCS championships," said Clark.

Stewens had finished fifth in the high jump at the CCS semifinals, jumping 5-4. She had gone 5-5 to win the league title.

Lynbrook junior Kim Gleeson gets ready to heave the shot put at the CCS finals. Gleeson was third in both the shot and the discus at the section championships.

Photograph by Mark Kocina

Gleeson nails two 3rds

Kim Gleeson placed third in two events to lead the Lynbrook girls to a 16th-place finish in the team standings at the section meet.

Gleeson heaved the shot put 39-5.5 for a third-place finish and whirled the discus 127-1 for a third.

Gleeson had finished third in the discus at the CCS semifinals a week earlier with a toss of 122-6. She was fifth in the shot at 36-3.

The talented Lynbrook junior was a league champion in both the weight events. Gleeson pitched the shot 40-7 and the discus 132-10 for a pair of firsts at the finals in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Teammate Francine Lee, a sophomore, came through with a solid 10th in the 1,600 meters in 5:22.02 at the CCS finals. She had finished 15th in the semifinals in 5:27.93 after a fifth-place finish in 5:36.99 at the league meet.

Lynn Chen was another Lynbrook placer at the league finals, placing sixth in the 300 hurdles in 49.75.

The only Vikings to place in the boys league finals was Daniel Rimmer, who was fifth in the triple jump at 38-9.

Saratoga's Julia Stewens (right) checks out the medal she won for finishing sixth in the high jump at the CCS finals. Stewens was the league champion in the event.

Photograph by Mark Kocina

Owens fifth

Annamarie Owens of Prospect placed fifth in the discus at the section meet. The senior flipped the platter 115-8 to finish among the leaders.

Owens, a league champion in the discus, bettered her semifinal showing at the CCS finals. The senior had finished seventh in the discus with a toss of 110-3 at the semi's.

Other area girls placing in the CCS semifinals were: Prospect-- Danielle Zelinski, 16th in the 800 in 2:31.23; Westmont-- Sandy Luong, 10th in the 1,600 in 5:15.06.

Local boys placing at the CCS semifinals included: Westmont-- Gareth Gorman, 10th in the discus at 142-1; Chris Aimonetti, 13th in the discus at 131-6; Brandon Mazikowski, 16th in the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.4; Prospect-- Sal Washington, 14th in the 400 in 51.07.

Owens had posted a first and a third at the finals in the Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League a few weeks earlier. The Prospect standout won the discus with a toss of 109-3 and finished third in the shot put at 34-6.5.

Zelinski romped to a second-place finish in the 800 in 2:25.42 at the league meet and she helped the Prospect 4x400 relay team to a second in 4:18.22.

Over in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL, Ashley Mamola was outstanding for Westmont. Mamola won the 100 in 16.31 and took the 300 hurdles in 47.90, and she ran on Westmont relay teams that finished third in the 4x100 in 52.28 and third in the 4x400 in 4:27.24.

Denise Horowitz pitched the shot put 34-6 to win a league title for the Warriors.

The Westmont girls finished with 69 points to finish third in the league behind Oak Grove (140) and Presentation (98), but the Westmont boys did them on better--the Warriors finished second behind Leigh.

The Longhorns ran up 97 points to win the team title with the Warriors second at 87.

Gorman, Aimonetti, Jordan Lee and Kevin Willis starred for Westmont at the league meet.

Gorman took the discus with a heave of 152-8 and Aimonetti was second in the shot put with a 43-7.5 effort. Teammate Aremon Habibi was third in the shot at 41-9.

Lee breezed to a second in the 800 meters in 2:06.8 for the Warriors and Willis was third in the 1,600 in 4:54.2 and third in the 3,200 in 11:01.3.

Mazikowski supported with a third in the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.28 and Chris Dietrick was third in the 100 in 11.25.

Washington led the Prospect showing at the Mount Hamilton Division finals. The senior speedster was second in the 400 in 50.47 and third in the 200 in 23.10. He also helped the Panthers to a win in the 4x100 relay in 44.75 and a third in the 4x400 relay in 3:31.55.

Trevor Rogers sprinted to a second in the 100 in 11.44 and he was fourth in the 200 in 23.67 with teammate Ray Woodie fifth in 23.73. Woodie was also fourth in the 400 in 51.77 with Austin Day sixth in 53.24.

Day soared to a fourth in the long jump at 19-10 and Carl Simien was fourth in the shot put at 42-4.5 with Lance Taulealea fifth at 42-3.5.