Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Saratoga's Jason Balkman (left) heads up the hill to Lexington Dam with the leaders in the annual Dammit Run. Balkman finished the event in a first-place tie with his Stanford running mate, Brad Hauser. Balkman has now won three straight Dammit titles.

Balkman, Hauser tie Dammit

Renteria runs in women's top 10

By Dick Sparrer

You can look at it two ways.

Either there was no winner in the 25th running of the rugged Los Gatos Dammit Run last Saturday... or there were two.

Stanford stars Jason Balkman and Brad Hauser ran side by side through the finish gate on the track at Los Gatos High School to tie for the 25th Dammit title.

Balkman, wearing No. 673, and Hauser, wearing No. 674, registered together, started the race together and, less than half an hour later, finished the race in a first-place tie.

But, then, that's nothing new for the Stanford pair. They ran together for the Stanford team that won the national championship last fall, and together then won All-American honors.

Hauser utilized some pretty good race strategy by running alongide Balkman in the tough five-mile race that starts in Los Gatos, heads up to Lexington Reservoir and returns to the Gatos track. You see, Balkman is certainly no stranger to Dammit competition.

In fact, by tying for the title last weekend, Balkman has now posted an unprecedented three straight victories in the rugged Dammit event.

Balkman, a Saratoga resident who is a former Central Coast Section cross county champion for Lynbrook, won the Dammit in 1996 and '97, then tied with Hauser for the '98 crown when each of the 21-year-old runners stopped the watch at 27:07.2. His time was almost a minute better than his winning effort of 28:03.61 a year ago.

Juan Miramontes, 19, was a close third in 27:16.42, with Mike Livingston fourth in 27:22.68, David Chavez fifth in 28:02.00, Tom Newman sixth in 28:20.13, Willy Gharapetian seventh in 28:57.75, Eddie Alaniz eighth in 29:09.73, Jim Angelopoulos ninth in 29:09.95 and Michael Matthews 10th in 29:19.83.

In all, there were more than 900 runners in the Saturday field, and 807 finishers.

"We had another very good turnout," Willie Harmatz, one of the race organizers. "[The Dammit Run] has a great reputation."

Susie Blake rambled to the women's crown last weekend, running 32:58.0 to edge runnerup Katie Martin at the wire. Martin, competing in the high school division, finished a close second in 32:58.22.

Chloe Glare was third in the women's field in 33:38.15 with Liz Nast fourth in 34:34.56, Mary Vidovich fifth in 34:43.57, Hilary Sand sixth in 34:44.61, Lisa Renteria seventh in 35:45.25, Sue Francis eighth in 36:01.56, Anne Ricketts ninth in 37:03.96 and Katie Scott 10th in 37:04.45.

In age-group competition, Balkman and Hauser were easy winners in the men's open class and Sand was the women's open winner.

Renteria was second in the women's open division. Renteria is a former track and cross country star from Westmont who took her talents to West Valley Community College last year. She finished seventh overall in the Dammit this year after finishing ninth a year ago.

Ryan Jensen ran to a title in the boys' 13-and-under division, with Corby Runyan second and Max Selleck of Los Gatos third. Merin Clark won the girls' 13-and-under title, with Tana Smothermen second and Alicia Follmar of Saratoga third.

Gharapetian was the high school boys' winner. Los Gatos High's Zach Regner was fifth in the division.

Martin was the girls' high school champ, with Glare and Ricketts third. Ricketts is a Saratoga High sensation.

Blake was the easy winner in the women's 30-34 age division, and Livingston won the men's title in the same age group.

Angelopoulos romped to a win in the men's 35-39 age group, with Paul Cox second and Rob Nast third. Cox, a member of the faculty at UC-Davis, is a former Los Gatos runner who still holds the school record in the mile (4:13.4 set in 1981).

Sue Nast defended her 1997 Dammit title with a win in the women's 35-39 division. She was one of four women to record back-to-back victories.

Shade, Shirley Church and Katherine Beiers all were Dammit winners for a second straight year.

Shade took the women's 50-54 crown, and Church was the women's 55-59 champ. Both are Dammit Run veterans who have finished as age-group champions a number of times in the 1990s.

Katherine Beiers defended her title in the women's 65-69 age group with a second straight victory.

Follmar, a longtime Dammit star, returned the top 20 this year and was a winner in the women's 40-44 class. Follmar has finished either first or second in her age division in just about every Dammit Run of this decade.

Diane Bromstead, another longtime Dammit competitor, returned to the winner's circle with a victory in the women's 60-64 division.

Lesley-Wismer was the men's 40-44 champ, with age group titles going to Salvador Martinez in the 45-49 division, Fred Martin in the 50-54 group, Joe Hurtado in the 55-59 division, Jerome Lewis in the 60-64 class and Ron Schenone in the 65-69 group.

Dennis Egley defended his '97 crown with a first in the men's 70-and-over division.

Francis was the women's 45-49 winner and Etta Palmer took the women's 70-and-over title.

Vince Stroth was the winner in the men's heavyweight division.

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