Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Sophomore Ian Jang helped the Saratoga junior varsity to a team fifth at the Clovis Invitational.

Kniskern stars for Panthers

Falcons run strong at Clovis Invitational

By Dick Sparrer

Hard works pays off.

And no one knows that better than Laura Kniskern of the Prospect girls' cross-country team.

Kniskern gets up every morning to run for an hour before starting her day as a sophomore at Prospect. Then, when the school day is through, she's going through daily workouts with her teammates.

And her work ethic is paying dividends for the Panthers.

Kniskern is the top runner for the Prospect squad that's running out in front of the rest of the pack in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League this season.

"She's really dedicated," said Prospect coach Tom Smith, "and that's really unusual for a runner as young as she is. But she's one of the top five sophomores in all of CCS."

Kniskern, the league two-mile champion as a freshman during the track season last spring, ranks among the top two-four runners in the division this year, and she's helped the Panthers get off to a 4-0 start in the division season.

Prospect will try to make it five straight in league play when they run up against Westmont at Alum Rock Park on Oct. 22. A week later, they'll battle Santa Teresa for the division championship.

The Saints are also 4-0 in division competition, but the Panthers are about five minutes up on Santa Teresa in team time. The two teams will collide on Oct. 27 at Santa Teresa County Park.

Prospect is the defending division champion, and Smith said his girls' team is even better than last year. "We have five girls who have run the mile in under 5:40," he said.

Kniskern leads the charge for the Panthers along with juniors Alison Prehn, Mariko Yoshihara and Sarah Yarnall and sophomore Elizabeth Giles.

"Our top five runners are in the Top 10 in the division," said Smith.

Senior Christa Huffman joins Kniskern as a top returner from last year's championship team, and juniors Kristi Ciangemella and Brianne Copes are other top runners for the Panthers.

The Panthers ran strong at the Center Meet last week, finishing third behind powers Palo Alto and Gunn.

"They did really really against the best teams," said Smith, whose girls were third in a 24-team field.

Falcons in Clovis

Seniors Drew Copeland and Brett Pahler led Saratoga to a team eighth in the 21-team field at the rugged Clovis Invitational.

Copeland was 31st overall in 17:26.4 in the 142-runner field, and Pahler was 34th in 17:31.5 to help the Falcons edge Foothill for the eighth spot in the team field. Alex Daniels finished 38th in 17:35.8, and all three runners improved on their 1996 efforts on the same course.

Andrew Sun was 61st in 17:56.1, Alex Shoor was 62nd in 17:57.2 and Jeff Beyers was 64th in 18:01.9 to round out the top six for Saratoga.

The Falcons ran up 221 team points to finish behind Los Altos (203) but ahead of Foothill (231). Estancia finished with 85 points to clinch the team title.

Freshman Jake Christopherson starred in the junior varsity race in Clovis, romping to a 21st-place finish in 18:28.8. Christopherson led the Falcons to a solid fifth-place finish in the JV division.

David Wilson ended up 31st in 18:49.1, with Erik Peterson 32nd in 18:49.5, Nick Lin 34th in 18:51.9 and Ramon Patino 37th in 18:59.5.

Robert Kim was 43rd in 19:05.0, with Ian Jang 48th in 19:11.6 and Eric Cherng 49th in 19:12.7.

Jesuit won the JV crown at the meet with 44 points. Saratoga finished fifth with 134 points behind St. Mary's (121) but ahead of El Toro (146).

Jenny Yoo led the Saratoga girls' showing, running 58th in 22:13.8. Whittney Dotzler was 71st in 22:45.9 with Larua Prolo 82nd in 23:21.6, Miranda Sun 84th in 23:23.2 and Justine Lam 86th in 23:24.6. There were 136 finishers in the girls' field.

The Falcons ended up 15th in the 21-team girls' field.

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