Saratoga News Photograph by Skye Dunlap Saratoga's Anne Ricketts and Cupertino's Celeste Dunlap run side-by-side down the straightaway in last week's Firebird Invitational at Fremont. Ricketts was first overall in 12:14 with Dunlap second in 12:32. Monta Vista's Yvonne Bailey (second from right) ended up seventh in 13:20. Ricketts off and running Saratoga star runs to three victories at Firebird International By Dick Sparrer It was the first meet of the season for many of the teams in the field. Los Gatos and Saratoga were battling it out for the boys team championship. Saratoga's Anne Ricketts and Cupertino's Celeste Dunlap were racing for the girls individual crown. But when the runners funneled through the finish gates at the Firebird Invitational at Fremont last Thursday afternoon it looked more like the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals than the first meet of the season. Of course, the SCVAL finals come at the season's end. But the Firebird Invitational provided a pretty good preview of things to come in the league cross country season. Returning stars Ricketts and Dunlap will no doubt regain the status they earned a year ago as two of the league's best female runners. Ricketts was the Firebird winner, covering the 2.1-mile course in 12:14. Dunlap was second in 12:32 for the Pioneers. Laura Phan of Homestead, Amy LaPine of Los Gatos, Yvonne Bailey of Monta Vista and Sueh Han Liew of Fremont showed that they will also be forces in the girls division in 1998. Laura Phan of Homestead ran a solid third in 13:01 with Amy LaPine of Los Gatos fifth in 13:13 and Yvonne Bailey of Monta Vista seventh in 13:20. Bailey was 10th in the Firebird a year ago. Leland won the team title with 82 points. Monta Vista (116) ran second with Los Altos (123) third, Saratoga (140) fourth, Prospect (149) fifth and Lynbrook (224) sixth. In the boys competition, Los Gatos rambled to a team title with Saratoga second. And that, too, could be an indication of things to come in the league season. Los Gatos ran up a low 46 points to win the Firebird crown. Saratoga was second at 83 with Los Altos (88) third, Leland (180) fourth and Monta Vista (184) fifth. Zach Regner was fourth in 10:23 with Russ Martin fifth in 10:25 and Matt Bates eighth in 10:36 to lead the Wildcats to the championship. Alex Daniels of Saratoga was ninth in 10:39 to help the Falcons clinch second in the team standings. Daniels finished seventh in the Firebird last year. Andrew Hill of Los Altos won the boys division for the second straight year. Ricketts runs to records While it was the first meet of the year for some of the teams at the Firebird, it wasn't the first meet for the Falcons. Saratoga took part in both the Lynbrook Invitational and Early Bird Invitational at North Monterey Country, and Ricketts set course records in each race. Ricketts ran 18:59 to set a new course mark in the Early Bird. She crushed the previous record of 19:44 set by Amy Briley of host North Monterey County back in 1996. Elissa Dines was 24th in 22:12 with Laura Lin 30th in 22:34, Jenny Yoo 31st in 22:34 and Carol Liu 57th in 24:04 to help Saratoga to a team fourth. Ricketts set a new mark at Lynbrook with a 13:05 to lead the Falcons to a team third behind Los Gatos and Mitty. Lin ended up 15th in 15:15 and Yoo 17th in 15:27 in the 64-runner field. In boys action, Daniels and Alex Shoor led Saratoga to a team sixth in North Monterey County. Daniels was sixth in 16:26 with Shoor 12th in 16:54. Luke Anderson was 26th in 17:47 for the Falcons. Jeff Beyers was 24th in the junior boys race in 15:18 at the Early Bird, and Jake Christopherson was 15th in the sophomore boys race in 18:02 with Ian Hoare 25th in 18:50. A few days earlier, Nobuaki Tomine finished 23rd in 12:32 to lead the Saratoga boys varsity effort at Lynbrook. David La finished eighth in the boys frosh-soph division in 12:42 with Richard La 13th in 13:20 and Justin Gardner 19th in 13:41. Ian Kolb was 12th in 14:16 to lead the Saratoga boys junior varsity. Carol Lui was sixth in 16:20 to spark the girls junior varsity for Saratoga. Dernie Wang was 10th in 16:54 with Bonnie Nguyen 11th in 17:01 and Abbey Heerwagen 19th in 18:05. Lynbrook Invitational Frances Shin led the Lynbrook effort in the meet the Vikings hosted on Sept. 10. Shin was 12th overall in 15:07.2 in the varsity girls division of the Lynbrook Invitational. Prospect junior Laura Kniskern was seventh in 14:33.1 with teammate Alison Prehn 18th in 15:32.4. Danielle Zelinski was 20th for the Panthers with Elizabeth Giles 21st and Kristi Cangiamilla 22nd. Monta Vista's Sarah Blanke-Burke was 13th in 15:11.8. Jarrod Rathman of Monta Vista romped to an 11th-place finish in the boys varsity division, stopping the watch at 12:00.9. Teammate Kelan Champagne was 18th in 12:14.1. Lynbrook's Aman Sirohi was 25th on his home course in 12:39.4 with Beau Carrigan 28th for the Vikings. Michael McSorley of Monta Vista was 10th in the boys frosh-soph division, and Paul Rodriguez Jr. of Lynbrook was 11th in the boys junior varsity class. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, September 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.