Sports

With Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals beginning on Nov. 4, the varsity water polo girls feel they couldn’t be more prepared for the games to come. Senior co-captain Alison Norris said the team has drastically advanced in its play this season, and she hopes that even against tough competitors such as Los Gatos and Los Altos, it will be able to play its best.

This year the girls’ volleyball team is looking forward to a strong season with a new coach guiding their young, talented roster. Brad Frederickson, who has been coaching the boys’ varsity volleyball team since 2005, will replace Lori Gragnola as coach.

Gragnola coached the girls’ JV team for 11 years and was an assistant coach for the varsity team for nine years before being promoted to head coach in 2006. She left Saratoga High after the 2007 season and will continue coaching the Monta Vista boys’ varsity team in the spring.

Saratoga High has finally added lacrosse to its spring sports roster, five years after the creation of the highly successful West Valley Redhawks Lacrosse club.

The process started around this time last year when several members of the Redhawks management, as well as Wes Koenig, a lacrosse supporter responsible for the lacrosse programs in Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz, approached former athletic director Ian McKenzie and assistant prinicipal Joe Bosco.

He owns 13 different colored tuxedoes, 12 pairs of running shoes and is nicknamed the “Rocketman.” He was running sub-5 minute miles a decade before any of us were born. And he just happens to be the new girls’ cross country coach.

Besides the fact that Danny Moon could probably—scratch that—can run faster than 75 percent of the school’s athletes, his quirky personality and lovable spirit have helped the girls’ team this season. Previous coach Peter Jordan moved on to take the position of athletic director.

While most sports teams are caught up in the frenzy of end-of-season games, boys’ cross country is taking a different approach. Instead of racing at a slew of meets for league finals, they are racing less to ensure that their bodies are in optimal condition for the races that count.

The field hockey team set the tone for what they hope will be a successful run at CCS championships with a 2-0 shutout against Leigh on Saturday, Nov. 15.

The No. 2 ranked Falcons, with a league record of 8-1-3, faced off against No. 7 Longhorns, with a record of 10-3-1, in the CCS quarterfinals at Willow Glen High School at 2:45. Saratoga had a bye for the first round of playoffs.

With 1.9 seconds left on the clock, and CCS playoffs on the line, the Falcons were tied 35-35 with the league champion Wilcox Chargers as Charger field goal kicker Cesar Duenas walked on to the field to kick. The Falcons prayed for a miss but were crushed as Duenas kicked a 30-yard field goal through the goal posts ending the Falcon’s season and also their dreams of making CCS.

The Monta Vista Matadors were in for a surprise when they arrived at Saratoga on Oct. 21 to find junior Mika Padmanabhan dressed in uniform. The Falcons had released their secret weapon.

The addition of Padmanabhan was all it took to push the team over the edge to victory. They lost 3-4 earlier this season to the Matadors, but with the addition of the talented junior they were able to turn the tables and come out on top 5-2.

The boys’ water polo team is like a family in more ways than one. Their 12-1 league record is a testament to not only powerful and effective teamwork but also the team’s brotherly bonds. Team members junior Kevin and sophomore Tim Rollinson are brothers both in and out of the pool, while team captains seniors Arian Mahini and Nick Mortazavi have played together so long they could be considered brothers.

With the exception of dances and rallies, the walls of the gym are usually bare. On Oct. 29, however, it underwent a transformation as the juniors of the varsity volleyball team tacked up Mystery Inc. and Scooby Doo posters for the senior game.