Although the next state meet is still about three months away, it was clear last week that Tsai is pointing toward a return trip this spring. Tsai started his senior season strong with career bests in the discus and shot put.

First, in a dual meet against Wilcox, he hurled the discus 161-0, almost two feet better than his 2005 best of 159-4. Then, at the 23rd Kiwanis-Bellarmine Track Classic at Los Gatos on March 10, Tsai won the shot put event with a personal-best effort of 51-6. Tsai's winning mark at the K-Bell meet easily surpassed his previous best of 50-0, achieved earlier in the week against Wilcox. His best effort as a junior was his fifth-place toss of 49-1 at the CCS meet.

Tsai also placed second in the discus at the K-Bell, hurling the platter 159-3, about two feet shy of the winning effort (161-4) by Rene Stephan of Los Gatos.

Another Homestead athlete, Sarah Engle, cleared 10-0 to place second in the girls pole vault, while two Cupertino girls claimed thirds and another Pioneer took a fourth. Erica Buchinski (17.21) was third in the 100-meter hurdles, three places ahead of fellow senior Melanie Boyle (17.72). Sophomore Stephanie Glick was third in the high jump, clearing 4-10, and sophomore Sumika Shiokawa (11:33.41) was fourth in the 3,200.

Boyle was fifth in the triple jump with an effort of 33-2, five spots ahead of Glick (32-0). Lynbrook's Jessica Tsai shared eighth place in the high jump at 4-8 and took 11th in the triple jump at 31-8.

In its first El Camino dual meet of the season, Homestead's boys lost to Wilcox, 88-33, and the girls fell, 73-43. Besides Tsai in the shot and discus, event winners for the Homestead boys were Sameer Tharakan (5:10.3) in the mile and Khang Phan (40-8) in the triple jump. Sophomore Anisha Mazloom was a double winner for the Homestead girls, leaping 32-9 in the triple jump and running 55.3 in the 300-meter hurdles. Junior Jennifer Garnett (5:56) won the mile.

Senior Kimberly Chew was a double winner for Cupertino's girls in a 72-55 El Camino defeat at Mountain View. She won the 1,600 in 5:41, then doubled with a 2:27 in the 800. Other winners for the Pioneers included Nadia Chow (15-10) in the long jump, Shiokawa (11:24) in the 3,200, Boyle in the triple jump and Kathryn Steakley in the discus.

Hurdler Kevin Van was the lone individual winner for the Cupertino boys against Mountain View, taking the 300 race.

In a De Anza Division meet, Lynbrook's boys topped visiting Los Altos, 72-55, while the girls lost 64-63. Junior Matt Kemp and freshman T.J. Olson were double winners for the boys, and junior MayC Huang was a triple winner for the girls.

Kemp won both boys' weight events, while Olson won the 400 and the lead leg on the 400 relay. Huang triumphed in the 800 meters, mile and two mile. Olson combined with juniors Richard Lam, Greg Lam and Sameer Thadani to win the relay in 47.08.

Mats win a pair

Lynbrook's pool was loaded with talent on March 10 when the Vikings and Monta Vista squared off in the first SCVAL De Anza Division meet of the season. In fact, in every event except for two--one boys race and one girls contest--the winning time eclipsed the CCS qualifying standard.

When the waters finally calmed, Monta Vista had triumphed twice. The boys won, 95-85, and the girls won, 93-86, but nothing was easy.

The Matador boys won just four of 11 races, plus the diving competition, but they had just enough depth to overcome Lynbrook's Brandt Robinson and Andrew Wu.

Robinson won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.62 seconds and 100 backstroke, in addition to swimming lead-off on a pair of relay victories. Wu took the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, and he joined Robinson on the relay wins.

David Wong (50 butterfly), Tyler Fischer-Colbrie (100 free), Arthur Lam (500 free) and Xiao Zhao (diving) all won events for the Matadors. And Kevin Leonard, Sean Shi, Michael Ahn and Dustin Chien teamed to capture the 200 free relay.

Monta Vista's girls won six of 11 races and the diving. Matadors Dominique Lazarovici (200), Jessica Kwong (100), Emma Drysdale (50), and Mao Ueno (500) all claimed individual freestyle wins and Courtney Rudolph took the diving.

The Mats also touched first in both free relays. Kwong and Drysdale took part in both victories, combining with Elsa Cheng and Allison Yee in the 200, and joining with Lazarovici and Ueno in the 400.