The Fremont High School junior walked off with another melon last week when he romped to his second straight individual win in the annual Fremont Watermelon Run.

A record field of 256 runners participated in the run across the Fremont campus, and Polgar stopped the watch at 11:40 to beat his cross country teammates, Austin Sardella and Mike Pullano, to the finish line.

"We had a phenomenal turnout, from 100 last year to 256 this year," said Fremont cross country coach Pat Lawson. "It was unbelievable. We went from 33 staff members to 59, which really was great to see."

"To coin a new phrase I learned from a friend in the restaurant business when you get a ton of customers at the same time, we got 'slammed,' " she added. "But we held up through it."

Polgar was the overall champ and also the first finisher from the junior class, with Sardella second overall and second among juniors in 11:47.

Pullano was the senior class champ in 11:48, with Haruki Shimoda (12:32) the top sophomore and Greg Crane (13:05) the first freshman.

Senior Kassie Korobkova was the girls winner, finishing in 14:29. Shannon Lazares (16:57) was the first junior, Destiny Acidera (18:33) the first sophomore and Nikki Kenney (15:51) the first freshman.

Staff winners were John Magee (13:31) and Sarah Schneider (16:42), and coach winners were Bobby Soto (12:00) and Kristin Kempe (16:51). Alumni champs were Philip Mandalstamm (13:10) and Rosina Lozano (24:54).

Sibling division winners included Ben Polgar (16:42) and Amber Sharet (27:26), and parent winners were Allen Sardella (16:08) and Hellie Mateo (30:59).

"It was quite an event to see with students, staff members, alumni and athletes and their coaches participating," said Lawson. "And the weather was absolutely perfect."

The math department again won the staff award for most participants. Special education was second with science third and English fourth.

Among the other top finishers in the event were junior Dennis Campos, fourth overall in 11:49; senior Trevor Fontes, fifth in 11:51; senior Daniel Atondo, sixth in 11:57; and junior Tony Zhu, eighth in 12:29.

In all, there were 46 watermelons used for the event. The melons were donated by Sunnymont Produce, PW and Pak and Save.


Firebird Invitational

Runners will return to the same Fremont course this week, but they will be running for medals, not watermelons.

It's the annual Firebird Invitational, and teams from all over Santa Clara Valley will be in the field when the starting gun blasts at 3:30 p.m.