Photograph by Lea Tauriello
Fremont Watermelon Run winners get together with Fremont athletic director Phil Kelly to eat a little watermelon after the 2.1-mile run around the Sunnyvale campus. Winners include (front row, l-r) Justin Polger, Robin Goka, Sueh-Han Liew, Heidi Gott, Kristen Kam and Anthony Anderson, and (back row, l-r) Brent Conrad, Khairy Amin, Kelly, Brian Cooper, Jason Townsend, Fernando Contreras, Paola Luna and Greta Hilborn. At left, Conrad runs to the overall victory.
By DICK SPARRER
At the Olympic Games, they go for the gold.
At Churchill Downs, they run for the roses.
At Fremont High, they run for the ... watermelon? That's right, and they do it every year in the Fremont Watermelon Run.
In fact, this year a record 104 runners turned out to run for the melons in the annual event on the local high school campus.
Fremont cross country coach and athletic director Pat Lawson originally set up the race to kick off the cross country season at the school.
But the run now includes competitors from the school's faculty, coaching staff, student body and alumni, as well as the cross country team.
This year it was alumni runner Brent Conrad, a 1995 Fremont graduate, who was the overall winner. Conrad covered the 2.1-mile course in 11:26 to finish first in the 104-runner field.
Brian Cooper was the first high school finisher, clocking in at 11:36 to win the senior boys' division. Heidi Gott was the senior girls' winner in 16:21.
Khairy Amin won the boys' 11th grade title in 13:18 and Robin Goka was the girls' 11th grade champ in 21:45.
Anthony Anderson ran 13:03 to take the boys' 10th grade crown and Sueh-Han Liew crossed the line in 15:00 to finish first among 10th grade girls.
Justin Polger was the boys' ninth grade winner in 13:19, and Kristen Kam won the girls' title in the same class in 16:09.
Cross country coach Fernando Contreras was the winner among male coaches, clocking in at 12:33. Paola Luna was the winner among female coaches in 16:20.
Luna is the girls' field hockey coach at Fremont.
Jason Townsend, last year's overall champ, was the male faculty winner in 11:55 and Greta Hilborn was the female faculty winner in 19:54.
Of course, the watermelon race wouldn't be possible at all if not for Fremont alumni Chuck Stowell--he owns Chuck's Produce on Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, and he supplies the watermelons.
With the watermelons gone, the Firebirds will get down the serious business of running when they host the annual Indian Invitational on Sept. 19 at Fremont.
Lawson expects a 12-team field for the race that will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 18, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.