The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap Homestead's Laura Phan trots through the finish gate after nailing a third in the Firebird Invitational at Fremont. Phan finished the 2.1-mile run in 13:01. Phan in Firebird top 10 Liew finishes 8th for host Firebirds By Dick Sparrer It was the first meet of the season for most of the teams in the field. But when the runners funneled through the finish gates at the Firebird Invitational at Fremont last Thursday afternoon, it looked very much like the last meet of the year. 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. Why, 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. 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. Ricketts was the Firebird winner, covering the 2.1-mile course in 12:14. Dunlap was second in 12:32 for the Pioneers. Phan ran a solid third in 13:01 for the Mustangs with LaPine fifth in 13:13, Bailey seventh in 13:20 and Liew eighth in 13:23. Bailey was 10th in the Firebird a year ago and Liew ran 15th. Los Gatos freshman Lynsey Harris came through with a surprise ninth in 13:24. Leland won the team title with 82 points. Monta Vista (116) ran second with Los Altos (123) third, Saratoga (140) fourth, Prospect (149) fifth, Lynbrook (224) sixth, Wilcox (239) seventh and Fremont (245) eighth. 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. 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, Monta Vista (184) fifth, Wilcox (188) sixth and Homestead (230) seventh. 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. Homestead finished seventh overall, but the Mustangs placed two runners in the Firebird top 10. Darius Seddiqui was second in 10:22 with Matt Hovik 10th in 10:35. Hovik had finished third with Seddiqui fourth at the Firebird in 1997. Andrew Hill of Los Altos won the boys division for the second straight year. Firebirds are 2-0 The Fremont football team crushed Westmont 28-12 last Friday to jump to a 2-0 start in the young season. The Firebirds, 13-7 winners over Prospect a week earlier, will take their 2-0 mark up against Monta Vista on Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m., at their own Diesner Field. Monta Vista comes in with a 1-1 record, beating Yerba Buena 35-0 before losing 26-20 to Willow Glen last week. Short touchdown runs by Devin Clark and Jason Placencia helped the Firebirds to the win over Prospect in the first week of the football season. Homestead, meanwhile, is off to a 0-2 start and will go after its first win of the year Friday when the Mustangs host Lynbrook at 7:30 p.m. at Diesner. The Vikings are 2-0 after beating Westmont and Prospect in the first two weeks of the season. Goal lifts Mustangs Julie Speckels knocked in a first-half goal off a Michelle Wald assist to lead the Homestead girls field hockey team to a tight 1-0 nonleague win over Leland last week. Phan leads Firebirds Theresa Phan nailed a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles to lead the Fremont girls tennis team to a 6-1 win over Cupertino. The win came in the opening match of the season in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Tarang Saini supported with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles and Virginia Li won 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 at No. 4. King's soccer The King's Academy boys soccer team knocked off Liberty Baptist 5-3 in the first round of the Woodside Priory Tournament last week. The win helped the Knights improve to 2-3-1 for the year. Earlier in the week, King's had battled Pinewood to a 2-2 in a nonleague game. Joe Madrigal knocked in both goals for the Knights. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.