Fast times at Fremont High in invitational

By DICK SPARRER

It was a fast field that plodded over the 2.04-mile course at Fremont in the annual running of the Firebird Invitational.

How fast? Well, just the fastest in the 16-year history of the event, that's all.

Records fell in both the boys and girls varsity races, with three boys--Matt Bates of Los Gatos (9:38), Tomas Viramontes of Los Gatos (9:43) and Cilliat Gharbay of Logan (9:47)--all getting under the previous course record of 9:48 set in 1998 by Andrew Hill of Los Altos.

"The cooler weather helped produce some of the fastest times in the history of this Fremont invitational," said Saratoga coach Marshall Clark, explaining the blistering times.

"The boys varsity race was incredibly fast," said Fremont coach Pat Lawson, the race director. "I don't think we've ever had that close of a race at the finish, therefore the course record was broken by 10 seconds."

"The weather was perfect and also helped produce the faster times in the boys varsity race," she added.

The top 10 boys finishers figured among the top 16 times of all-time in the Firebird. And the times weren's all that bad in the girls division either.

Michelle Beritzhoff of Los Gatos finished first overall in 11:29, breaking the record of 12:14 set in 1998 by Anne Ricketts of Saratoga. Jessica Baldwin of Milpitas was second in 11:51, also under Ricketts' old mark.

"It's still so early in the season to predict anything, but I anticipate a fast season overall," said Lawson. "It's going to be exciting."

Cupertino's Amy Wong and Joe Lordan were each among the top-10 finishers in the Firebird.

Lordan nailed eighth in the boys race in 10:15 to help Cupertino to a team ninth. Teammate Steve Ortan was 25th in 10:54.

Eric Fontes was the top Fremont finisher, claiming 17th in 10:35. Manuel Hernandez was 32nd in 11:15 with John Seo 43rd in 11:44 and Vince Klumper 46th in 11:51 to lead the Firebirds to seventh in the team standings.

Jeff Whitsett ended up 22nd in 10:42 to lead all Lynbrook runners to the finish line. Ryan Deal was 34th in 11:25 with Kevin Perng 41st in 11:42.

Julian Kolev was the Monta Vista leader, finishing 29th in 11:04. Paul Montanez was 48th in 11:54 for the Matadors.

Cupertino's Wong covered the distance in 12:48 to nail seventh-place overall in the girls race.

Francine Lee led the Lynbrook effort, finishing 19th in 13:51. Kate Bossange was 27th in 14:30 with Hyan Kim 33rd in 14:41, Jessica Ignaitis 38th in 14:55, Frances Shin 39th in 14:56, Stephanie Claussen 43rd in 15:11 and Jessica Gall 48th in 15:29. The Lynbrook girls finished fifth as a team.

Ellie Sajadi was the top Fremont finisher, nailing 24th in 14:07. Emily Maples was 35th for Monta Vista in 14:46, and Rosie Grantham was 40th for the King's Academy in 14:58.

The top Fremont finisher on the day was Austin Sardella, who nailed a third-place finish in 11:11 in the boys frosh-soph division. He led the Firebirds to a team third with teammates Randall Polgar 13th, Casey McCleary 14th, Chris Miguel 37th and Trevor Fontes 44th.

Lynbrook finished second to Logan in the boys frosh-soph class. Chris Deal was fifth in 11:13 to lead the Vikings with Chad Smith 10th, Eugene Benson 15th, Morgan Katz 35th and Allen Chang 42nd.

Greg Shaver of Cupertino was 11th in 11:27.

Lynbrook had three finishers in the top 11 on its way to a fourth-place finish in the girls junior varsity division.

Sasoon Kim was seventh in 14:44 with Evan Smith eighth in 14:52 and Vanessa Streb 11th in 14:59. Linda Hung finished 34th and Amber Ju was 36th for the Vikings.

Cassie Korobhova was the Fremont leader in the girls JV class, finishing 19th in 15:43.

Girls tennis

Homestead evened its record at 1-1 in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with a 7-0 shutout win over Mountain View in girls tennis.

Rachel Pua was a 6-2, 6-2 winner at No. 1 singles to start the Mustangs on the road to the victory. Brittany Reynolds won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and Erin Hsu won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3.

Earlier in the week, Pua posted a 6-0, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles, but the Mustangs lost a 5-2 decision to Lynbrook.

Volleyball

Adrienne Hoopes pounded down 24 kills to lead the Homestead girls volleyball team to a hard-earned 12-15, 15-9, 11-15, 15-12, 15-9 win over Menlo-Atherton in a nonleague match last week.

The Mustangs, 8-6 for the year, came back later in the week to whip Oak Grove 15-4, 15-5, 15-9.

In other local action, Robin Glass had 15 kills, but Fremont dropped a 15-8, 15-7, 10-15, 15-8 nonleague decision to the King's Academy. The Firebirds slipped to 0-3 with the loss.

Fremont had fallen to Menlo-Atherton 15-3, 15-5, 15-9 a week earlier, despite 12 kills by Glass.

Residents of the Adults Toward Independent Living house say the city has ignored the dangerous conditions posed by the lack of sidewalks and wheelchair ramps

DeCinzo

Photo: Best Friends

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Fast times at Fremont High in invitational

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