Sports

As eight runners approach the starting line for the 400m run, seven hunch down to get in their blocks while one stays upright.

Some may see this as a surefire way to lose, yet senior Mike Marshall is ranked third in CCS in the 400m with an amazing time of 49.48.

After a win over Los Gatos on April 2, the Falcons find themselves in second place in the De Anza league and in a good position for CCS, which begins May 6. Despite several injured players, the team has come out strong in the second half of their season, with better teamwork and more wins. Although they suffered a disappointing loss in the Charger Classic tournament in mid-April, the SHS team rallied to beat Mountain View the following week and kept their second-place ranking in the league.

If the boys’ tennis team had difficulties after its first loss against Gunn, the Falcons certainly overcame them in their first CCS match, where they easily defeated Aptos 6-1 on May 2.

After 12 years of competitive swimming , senior Hayes Hyde has chosen to take her sport to the college level. After being offered a position on the swimming team at Yale University, Hyde has accepted the recruitment and plans to swim all four years of college.

Nicole Sabes has been an asset to Saratoga High athletics for the past four years, participating on the varsity softball, soccer, field hockey and track teams. But with a looming graduation date, the superstar is getting ready to fly away from the Falcon nest and run for University of California Santa Barbara on the school’s prestigious track team.

Senior Ryan Hinshaw is one of the few athletes who have been on varsity teams since freshman year. He has gone above the norm, becoming one of Saratoga’s top swimmers.

He is ranked 11th nationally in the 1500m freestyle swim with a time of 16:07.23, a ranking he earned at the Speedo Junior Nationals last August. As a result of his amazing skill in long distance swimming, he has signed with Indiana University for next year.

Saratoga lost three consecutive games over the past two weeks against Monta Vista, Wilcox and Gunn, three of the league’s strongest teams. All three games were lost by a score of 13 – 17.

“We were really close [against Monta Vista and Wilcox],” said senior varsity girls’ doubles player Laura Lin. “If we had just won one more varsity game, we would have come out on top.”

Monta Vista. Defeated. Palo Alto. Taken out. Even Menlo, last year’s CCS champions, were no match for the amazing boys’ tennis team. But Gunn did not go down like the rest. The Falcons suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Titans, 3-4, on April 24.

The Falcons finished 16-1 this season. Senior Sameet Ramakrishnan attributes this year’s success to many of the players having experience at high levels of the sport.

For many years, the Saratoga and Palo Alto boy’s varsity swimming teams have maintained in a small but competitive rivalry. In CCS last year, the Falcons placed second to Palo Alto among public schools. This year’s dual meet showed signs that Saratoga may come out on top of Palo Alto at CCS.

Saratoga lost three consecutive games over the past two weeks against Monta Vista, Wilcox and Gunn, three of the league’s strongest teams. All three games were lost by a score of 13 – 17.