The opportunity to immerse yourself into high school water polo, or to court a plethora of high school girls tennis, is on hand this weekend, all within 10 miles of each other.
There is a boys water polo tournament at Menlo, a girls water polo tournament at St. Francis and Sacred Heart Prep and a tennis tournament at Stanford.
In case you wanted to get out of the area, Gunn will be playing in a girls water polo tournament at Acalanes, and Castilleja and Pinewood are competing at the Santa Catalina girls tennis tournament.
And for a one-time bonus, several local teams will be running loose in Golden Gate Park for the Lowell Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning.
Menlo School is hosting the 20th annual Scott Roche Invitational this weekend, with the Knights meeting Redwood on Friday at noon. Games will be also be played at Menlo-Atherton, with the Bears taking on Serra at 1 p.m. Friday.
The 16-team field features some of the top teams in the state, and this year also includes Acalanes, Davis, Granite Bay, La Jolla, Los Gatos, Ponderosa, Redwood, Rio Americano, Saint Mary’s, San Ramon Valley, Santa Cruz, Serra, Soquel and Valley Christian, undefeated at 5-0 entering play.
Menlo is the defending champion and has won two of the past three titles, and seven overall.
Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo-Atherton, Palo Alto and Castilleja are all competing at the St. Francis Invitational, and all four open with games at Sacred Heart Prep on Friday.
Castilleja (1-1) opens against Clovis (4-1) at 12:30 p.m., followed by Palo Alto (2-2) and defending Central Coast Section Division I champion Leland (5-0) at 1:20 p.m. The Chargers already own wins over Clovis and the Gators.
Menlo-Atherton (1-1) takes on Davis (1-0) at 3 p.m. and Sacred Heart Prep (2-1) meets Los Altos (2-0) at 3 p.m.
Menlo School kicks off the Third Annual Golden State Classic, a 16-team invitational. This year’s tournament features an impressive lineup of some of the top teams in the state, as well as Punahou from Honolulu, which has won 44 state titles, including its current run from 2003-2017. CIF-Southern California champion Torrey Pines and NorCal champion St. Ignatius join the field.
Menlo coach Bill Shine and Monta Vista coach Gene Fortino launched the event in 2015 at Menlo School and Stanford University.
This year’s tournament – all at Stanford – is a four-singles, three-doubles format. Play begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday at Taube Famly Tennis Stadium and West Campus courts at Stanford.
Menlo opens with St. Ignatius at 8:30 a.m. at Taube.
Menlo-Atherton plays Saratoga at 11 a.m. at the West Campus site.
By Rick Eymer/Palo Alto Online Sports
By Rick Eymer/Palo Alto Online Sports
By Rick Eymer/Palo Alto Online Sports