Homestead's Daniel Seddiqui ran 10:44 to finish fifth at the Firebird Invitational.




Photograph by Skye Dunlap







Fontes in Firebird top 10

Fremont hosts track invitational, run

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.

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).

"We had a great meet," said Fremont cross country coach Pat Lawson, the race director. In all, 18 schools participated in the event.

A week before the Firebird, Fremont hosted its annual Watermelon Run. And a day after the lightning show in the Santa Clara Valley, the Firebirds had perfect weather for the race that featured 140 runners, including 25 teachers.

Fremont student-teacher Steve Moreno came through with the fastest time of the day, winning the men's staff title in 10:37. Kristen Klingelhofer was the women's staff winner, setting a course record of 14:06 in the division.

Fontes posted the fastest time among high school runners. He won the boys junior class in 11:09. Jennifer Brown's 14.41 was the best time among high school girls.

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