"We did great," Armstrong gushed, "considering where we came from--which was nowhere! Cupertino [High] had never sent a cross country team to the state meet."

Back in 1981, a Cupertino girls team placed sixth at the Central Coast Section meet, a school record until the current group of Pioneers finished third behind Archbishop Mitty and Los Gatos at CCS on Nov. 13.

In Saturday's race, on a rain-dampened, 3.1-mile course in Fresno's Woodward Park, the Pioneers attained both goals that Armstrong had set for them the previous day. Cupertino achieved a top 10 finish and beat both Mitty (11th) and Los Gatos (12th) in the process.

Led by sophomore Julianne Hansen and freshman Sumika Shiokawa, the Pioneers' top five places added to 271 points. Mitty finished with 317 points, six better than Los Gatos. College Park of Pleasant Hill was the team champion with 118 points. Third-place Serrano High of Phelan (near Palm Springs) featured the individual winner, freshman Kauren Tarver (17:48).

After picking up the final results from meet officials about a half an hour after the race, the usually-reserved Armstrong celebrated. "I was jumping up and down," Armstrong said. "No one has seen me do that."

Hansen, who ran 19:40 to place 70th out of 186 runners a year ago as an individual, improved 36 seconds to earn 28th place.

In the scoring involving just the 23 teams vying for the State Division II championship, Hansen was 16th, Shiokawa (19:10) was 21st and junior Kimberly Chew (19:45) was 43rd. Seniors Stacie Boyle (20:35) and Lisa William (20:52) placed 90th and 101st, respectively, to round out the team scoring. Freshman Melissa Gomez and sophomore Patricia Lu also shared the work and glory for the Pioneers.

Mitty was led by senior McKayla Plank (18:20) and sophomore Renisha Robinson (18:45). Plank finished fourth in the race and Robinson was 15th. In team scoring, Plank was second and Robinson seventh.

Running as an individual, Lynbrook sophomore MayC Huang ran 19:30 for 49th place.

In the Division I team competition, Monta Vista's girls placed 19th. Junior Stephanie Cham (19:20), 31st out of 197 runners, and sophomore Lisa Worsham (19:58) were the top runners for the Matadors.

In the Division II boys race, junior Ben Sitler led St. Francis to an 11th-place finish. Sitler's time of 15:31 earned fourth place, while senior teammate Brian Fisher ran 26:18 for 38th. Former Monta Vista runner Ian LaForm, a junior at Point Loma of the San Diego Section, placed 28th in 16:08.

Fremont junior Kevin Schneider (16:29) was 52nd out of 197 Division I boys.

Cummings hockey MVP

Forward Katie Cummings, part of the senior core that led Monta Vista to the field hockey championship in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League this fall, has been selected as the Most Valuable Player by the league's coaches.

Jerra Rowland of Monta Vista was named Coach of the Year, and Matador goalkeeper Rosie Wright was tabbed Sophomore of the Year.

Monta Vista seniors Katie Sang, Nicole Bullier and Kylie Ratkovich all received all-league first team honors, as did Cupertino senior Jamie Herman.

Second team selections included Monta Vista juniors Jennifer Sparks and Katie Falconer and Cupertino senior Andrea Dolera.

Homestead center forward Nicole Caballero, a first team pick in the West Valley Division, was lauded Sophomore of the Year by the league's coaches. Two other Mustangs, senior Megan Brady and junior Courtney Gosnell, gained spots on the second team.

Lynbrook senior midfielder Vickie Chien was picked to the Mt. Hamilton Division's second team.

Lynbrook hosts Stober

Six area girls basketball teams and two squads from San Mateo County will converge upon Lynbrook this week for the fourth annual Sandi Stober Classic, an event played in honor of the late Lynbrook girls coach.

The three-day event begins on Dec. 1. The Vikings sport a 3-0 record entering the 8 p.m. feature game against James Lick. Other tourney openers include Evergreen Valley­Andrew Hill at 3:30 p.m., Capuchino-Prospect at 5 p.m. and Lincoln-Oceana at 6:30 p.m. Four games are set for Thursday and three for Friday, including the championship game at 8 p.m.

Cupertino Shootout

The annual Cupertino Shootout returns to Cupertino High School on Dec. 2­4 with four games on Thursday and Friday and three more on Saturday.

Host Cupertino will take on Mills in the final game of the night on Dec. 2. The 8:30 p.m. game will be preceded by Carlmont vs. Santa Clara at 4 p.m., Gunn and Lynbrook at 5:30 p.m. and Silver Creek against Homestead at 7 p.m.

Consolation games will be played at 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Friday with winner's bracket games at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

The consolation championship game is set for 4 p.m. on Dec. 4 with the third-place game at 5:30 p.m. and the championship game at 7 p.m.