Fontes runs to Watermelon win
Firebirds, Mustangs lose football openers
By Dick Sparrer
It was a hot day... a perfect day for a cool slice of watermelon.
But Fremont's Eric Fontes got more than he bargained for.
Fontes walked off with more a slice, he took the entire melon when he raced to a victory in the 18th annual Watermelon Run at Fremont High School.
Fontes covered the 2.1-mile course across the Fremont campus in 11:18 to finish first overall. It was the first overall victory for the Fremont senior, but his fourth melon win. Fontes has been a division winner in each of his four years at Fremont.
Fontes was first overall with faculty member Bobby Soto second in 11:33, sophomore Casey McCleary third in 11:56, freshman Austin Sardella fourth in 12:05 and junior John Seo fifth in 12:15.
Rounding out the top 10 overall were freshman Tony Zhu, sixth in 12:51); junior Vince Klumper, seventh (12:57); sophomore Paul Russell, eighth (13:02); senior Glenn Marasigan, ninth (13:04); and sophomore Trevor Fontes, 10th (13:05).
Sueh-Han Liew was the overall women's champ, finishing in 14:25. Liew, a Fremont graduate, has won the women's title for six straight years.
Division winners in the Watermelon Run included: senior, boys--E. Fontes; senior, girls--Ellie Sajadi (15:14); junior, boys--Seo; junior, girls-- Andrea Ancona (16:53); sophomore, boys--McCleary; sophomore, girls--Kassy Korobkova (17:18); freshman, boys--Sardella; freshman, girls--Charlene Calosing (16:45); faculty, men--Soto; faculty, women--Pat Vieira (18:46); parent--Y.C. Liew (17:33); alumni, men--Todd Switchenberg (13:54); alumni, women-- S. Liew.
Soto, a special education instructor, was first among faculty members in the race. Mike Matheson of the social studies department was second (13:48) with librarian Ruben Zamora third (15:09), Dan Cotton of the English department fourth (15:13) and John Nill of special ed fifth (16:47).
Rich Steffan of the math department was sixth among faculty members and topped a list of 12 math teachers in the run. The department won the award for most faculty representatives in the race with special ed second (seven entrants).
"It was a great race," said Pat Lawson, co-race director with Grace Voss.
Fremont will be back on the trails this week, hosting the 16th annual Firebird Invitational on Sept. 14, 3:30 p.m. Runners from 15 schools will compete on the 2.1-mile course across the school's Sunnyvale campus.
Firebirds fall
Senior fullback Ron Cerda hauled in a touchdown pass from Mike Mattman, then the junior quarterback ran for the 2-point conversion, but the Fremont football team lost its opener 19-8 to Westmont last Friday night.
Fremont trailed just 7-0 at intermission thanks to a first-period touchdown by the Warriors, and that's how it remained until the final period. But Westmont scored twice in the fourth, one of the touchdowns coming on a 40-yard interception return, to take a 19-0 lead.
The Firebirds scored their first TD of the season in the final period, but that was all Fremont could muster in the 19-8 loss.
Fremont will be back on the field looking for its first win of the season when the Firebirds host Saratoga on Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m., in a nonleague game. The Falcons are coming off a 37-0 win over Cupertino, one of Fremont's rivals in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Mustangs lose
Homestead, meanwhile, lost its opener 31-14 to Independence in a Friday night game at Fremont.
The Mustangs will go after their first win of the young season this weekend when they take on Lynbrook on Sept. 16, 7:30 p.m., at Cupertino.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
