Contributed photograph
West Valley College's Dan Rimmer, a former Lynbrook star, won the Northern California decathlon title and clinched a place in the state meet.
Follmar runs away with Top-8 victory
By Dick Sparrer
If there was any question as to who is the top runner in the Central Coast Section in the girls 1,600 meters this spring, Saratoga's Alicia Follmar erased all doubt last Friday night at the Central Coast Section Top-8 meet held at the Los Gatos track.

Follmar raced around the four-lap distance in 4:51.42 to win the event with meters to spare. The Saratoga junior finished more than 15 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, McKayla Plank of Mitty (5:06.61) as she ran away from the field.

Follmar finished less than two seconds off of the meet record of 4:49.60 set in 1983 by Cory Schubert of Del Mar.

Libby Jenke of Menlo ended up third in 5:08.79 with Follmar's season-long running rival, Melissa Grelli of Presentation, fourth in 5:09.57. Jessica Vanausdall of Aptos was fifth in 5:10.65 with talented Lynbrook freshman MayC Huang sixth in 5:14.51.

Tom Cummins of Saratoga flipped the discus 142-10 to finish eighth in the boys varsity division at the Top-8 meet.

In boys frosh-soph competition, Saratoga's Ken Douglas raced to a third in the 1,600 meters in 4:36.18.

Kendra Rimbach of Prospect soared to a victory at the Top-8 meet.

Rimbach flew to a first in the triple jump with a 35-3.75 effort for the Panthers, finishing just ahead of runner-up Katrina Zawojski of Palo Alto, second at 35-3.

Westmont's Amanda Horowitz also finished among the local placers with a second in the shot put. Her effort of 40-0.5 was just behind the mark of winner Julier Dufresne of Harbor, who won the event with a 41-1 effort.

Joining Huang on the list of Lynbrook placers at the Top-8 meet were Julie Chen in the girls varsity division, Garrick Wong and Durrell Roberts in boys varsity action and Ari Fine and Allan Huang in boys frosh-soph competition.

Chen raced to a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.88 and she was eighth in the 300 hurdles in 48.73.

Wong romped to a fourth in the 100-meter dash in 11.07 with Roberts 13th in 11.38. The two also ran for the Lynbrook boys 4x100 relay team that finished first in 42.83.

Fine soared to a fourth in the frosh-soph high jump at 5-8. A. Huang was fifth in the long jump at 19-0.25 and he added an eighth in the triple jump at 36-6.25.

Rimmer a winner

The Northern California championship meet is still a ways away, but the West Valley College men's track and field team is already 10 points out in front—thanks to sophomore decathlete Dan Rimmer.

Rimmer, a graduate of Lynbrook High School, won the NorCal title in the decathlon at a competition held in early April at Fresno City College.

Rimmer needed a strong showing the last of the 10 events in the two-day competition to win the decathlon and he came through with a second-place finish in the 1,500 meters in 4:42 to win the overall.

With the title, Rimmer has earned a place in the state meet coming up in May in Bakersfield.

Rimmer decided to become a decathlete when he turned out for the track and field as a freshman at West Valley. But he failed to qualify for the state meet last year.

In an effort to improve his chances this spring, he joined the West Valley cross country team in the fall and worked hard enough to earn the team's most improved runner award, lowering his cross country time by six minutes over the course of the season.

"His dedication to becoming a stronger athlete paid off," said Lisa Renteria, a coach on the West Valley staff. "Throughout this season he has already bettered most of his marks which gave him the confidence he needed going into these championships."