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Martin a winner in Las Vegas
By Dick Sparrer
Many may try their luck, but not too many folks come home winners from a trip to Las Vegas. Russ Martin, though, was one of the lucky ones.
Martin didn't actually return from Las Vegas a big winner, but the Los Gatos junior did return from a rugged cross country invitational in Nevada after finishing in the money in the boys varsity division.
Martin covered the 2.95-mile course in 14:40 to finish second overall in Vegas. And his individual effort was good enough to help the Gatos finish second in the tough field.
"He had another super race-- 14:40 is a great time," said Los Gatos coach Willie Harmatz of Martin. "He has the confidence to beat anyone."
Martin ran second overall with his quick time. Zack Regner was sixth in 15:03 with Matt Bates seventh in 15:07, Tomas Viramontes 14th in 15:28, Jeff Hoeft 18th in 15:35, Darren Key 37th in 16:08 and Greg Tolan 38th in 16:09.
The effort was good enough to punch Los Gatos to a second-place finish in the 16-team large school field. Vista, the No. 10 ranked team in the state in Division I, was first with 37 points and Gatos, the No. 3 ranked team in the state in Division III, was second with 46 points. Tuba City was a very distant third at 154.
"The last two-mile build-up was fantastic," said Harmatz of his crew. "We should have caught Vista, but they had too big of a lead."
The Gatos girls, meanwhile, romped to an easy win in the small school division, claiming seven spots in the top 10.
"I was really upset I didn't have the girls in the large school race," admitted Harmatz. "But it was a good early season meet to get our team used to running together and helping each other."
Heather Hennessy was the individual winner in 17:42 on the 2.5-mile course with Michelle Beritzhoff second in 17:45, Aly Chavez third in 17:48 and Simone Drucker fourth in 17:51. Kate Leary was sixth in 18:17 with Lynsey Harris seventh in 18:28 and Andie Knudsen ninth in 18:59.
Gatos finished with 15 points to win the small school title. LaPuente was well back in second with 56 points.
A week earlier, Chavez had run 13:40 to finish second overall in the girls junior varsity division at Fremont's Firebird Invitational. Theresa Rehder finished fourth in 13:45 on the 2.15-mile course with Angela McBeath 11th in 14:52.
Los Gatos won the team title at Fremont in the boys JV race. Tim O'Dell was second overall in 11:40.6 to lead the Gatos effort. Mike Rossmassler was fourth in 12:01.1 with Andrew Pease fifth in 12:05.5, Caleb Hayashi ninth in 12:19.1 and Tim Chen 14th in 12:30.1.
Jason Yuki was sixth in 11:44.2 to lead the Los Gatos boys to a fourth in the frosh-soph division. Jon Dunphy was 19th in 12:12.6.
Los Gatos will be in action locally this week when the Wildcats compete in the Central Park Invitational on Sept. 28, 3 p.m., at Central Park in Santa Clara.
The Gatos boys varsity will head to Stanford on Oct. 2 while the girls and frosh-soph teams will compete at Half Moon Bay.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
