Christopherson runs strong at Fremont

By Dick Sparrer

Jacob Christopherson had a pretty good time when he ran in the Firebird Invitational last Thursday.

In fact, the 10:17 recorded by the Saratoga senior had only been bettered by five runners in the previous history of the 16-year-old run at Fremont High.

But this year, the impressive time was barely good for a top 10 finish with a fast field covering the 2.04-mile course in record fashion.

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

In fact, three runners finished under the previous course record of 9:48 set in 1998 by Andrew Hill of Los Altos, and Michelle Beritzhoff of Los Gatos ran 11:29 to break the girls course record of 12:14 set in 1998 by Saratoga's Anne Ricketts.

Christopherson's time was good for ninth overall in the boys varsity division and helped the Falcons to a fifth-place finish in the team standings behind Los Gatos, Logan, Los Altos and Milpitas.

Richard La ran 19th in 19:39 for the Falcons with Donald Prolo 28th in 10:57 and David La 30th in 11:09. Justin Gardner was 39th in 11:39 to round out the Saratoga top five.

"Los Gatos dominated the varsity boys and girls team races," added Clark. And it could be more of the same this week when the Wildcats compete in the Saratoga Invitational on Sept. 21, 3:30 p.m.

Saratoga ended up fourth in the girls varsity field at Fremont behind Gatos, Logan and Los Altos.

Dernie Wang led the Saratoga effort by finishing 17th in 13:43. Carol Liu was 21st in 13:59 with Joanna Chan 30th in 14:32, Laura Lin 32nd in 14:37, Mary Elliott 51st in 15:39 and Jackie Molzon 55th in 15:52.

Saratoga was fifth in the girls junior varsity division with Judy Wang 13th in 15:05, Stephanie Morrison 19th in 15:53, Priya Talreja 25th in 16:05, Stephanie Le 30th in 16:25 and Sunita Kurnar 36th in 17:06.

Steven Surrette was 28th in 12:13 and Daniel Yang was 29th in 12:14 for the Saratoga boys frosh-soph team.

In the boys junior varsity class, Takashi Tomonaga was third in 12:03 with Ian Kolb fifth in 12:08 to lead the Falcons to a team second. Tony Yiu was 12th with Clarence Tam 14th and Steven Goldsworthy 18th.

The Falcons will go from hosting their invitational meet on Thursday to the Central Park Invitational in Santa Clara on Sept. 26, 3 p.m.

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