Saratoga distance star Jake Christopherson was eighth overall in 10:47 to lead the Falcons to a team second at the Firebird Invitational.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Christopherson eighth in the 14th Firebird run
Eighteen schools participated
By Dick Sparrer
Girmay Guangul of Santa Clara and Ashleigh Nebeker of Milpitas each finished with room to spare when they competed in the 14th annual Firebird Invitational at Sunnyvale's Fremont High last Thursday.
Guangul romped to an easy win in the boys division, finishing 21 seconds ahead of runner-up Dawit Gezahngn of Del Mar, and Nebeker coasted to an victory in the girls division, ending up 22 seconds ahead of second-place Celeste Dunlap of Cupertino and 24 seconds ahead of third-place Julie Pope of Leland.
But as far as Gezahngn and Pope were concerned, second and third were just fine for them. Because both efforts were good enough to lead their teams to championships at the Firebird event.
Guangul covered the 2.1-mile course in 9:56 to finish first individually in the 91-runner field, but Gezahngn breezed into second place in 10:17 to lead Del Mar to the team title in the boys race.
Matt Radmilovic of Wilcox was third in 10:27, with Dennis Bekele of Del Mar fourth in 10:34, Daniel Seddiqui of Homestead fifth in 10:44, Carlos Melchor of Del Mar sixth in 10:45 and Jim Shimp of Leland seventh in 10:46.
Jake Christopherson of Saratoga was eighth overall in 10:47 to lead the Falcons to a team second, just a point behind the Dons. Del Mar rolled up a low 80 points to win the team title, with Saratoga second at 81.
Jeff Beyers was 15th in 11:00 for the Falcons, with Don Prolo 17th in 11:05 and Richard La 19th in 11:06.
Eric Fontes of Fremont managed a top-10 finish on his home course, running 10:48 to nail ninth overall. Jarrod Rothman of Monta Vista was 11th in 10:52, with Joe Lordan of Cupertino 13th in 10:57 and Kai Yu of Lynbrook 18th in 11:05.
Nebeker breezed to the girls win in 12:31, with Dunlap second for the Pioneers in 12:53. Pope was a close third in 12:56, with Prospect's Laura Kniskern fourth in 12:58. There were 82 runners in the field.
Leland's Rachel Rettner (fifth in 13:00) and Emily Rettner (sixth in 13:07) chased Pope to the finish line to help the Chargers charge to the team championship. Cindy Lee was 11th in 13:33, and Staci Pielluschi was 15th in 13:48 to help the Chargers run up a low 40 team points to finish first.
Del Mar's Beverly Hauner was seventh in the individual race in 13:18.
Milpitas was second in the team standings at 99 points, with Monta Vista third at 133. Leading the Matadors to the third-place finish were Akari Namba (10th in 13:32) and Sarah Burke (18th in 13:53).
Prospect's Danielle Zelinski was 12th in 13:34 to support Kniskern's effort, and Cupertino's Amy Chang was 14th in 13:35 to support Dunlap.
"We had a great meet," said Fremont cross country coach Pat Lawson, the race director. In all, 18 schools participated in the event.
The weekend before, running on a hilly 3-mile course at North Monterey Country High School, Saratoga romped to a second-place finish in the boys sophomore division and a fifth in the girls varsity class at the Early Bird Invitational.
David La finished 14th in 17:36, and R. La was 15th in 17:40 to lead the Falcons to a second in the sophomore race. Prolo was close behind in 17th in 17:45, and Brett Stanger rounded out the top five by finishing 35th in the 113-runner field in 18:49.
The girls ended up fifth overall in the 15-team Early Bird field.
"That was a solid team performance," said Saratoga coach Marshall Clark.
Freshman Paula McNally finished 19th in 21:11, with Dernie Wang 32nd in 22:05, Carol Lui 35th in 22:13, MiMi Choi 55th in 22:50 and Laura Lin 64th in 23:07. There were 115 runners in the field.
Christopherson finished 18th overall and 14th in the junior boys division in 17:10.
Jeff Beyers led the senior boys with a 19th-place finish in 17:13.
"We're off to an impressive start," said Clark, "especially with so many new runners."
"It can be another big year (for Saratoga)," he added, "but it will take personal dedication and determination to make it happen."
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