Just two weeks into a new high school cross country season, some of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's finest runners already seem to be in November form.
Lynbrook sophomore Cindy Huang scored victories in consecutive weeks, including a tight, five-second win over Saratoga senior Katie Nast at the Firebird Invitational on Sept. 11.
Huang, who covered the 2.05-mile Fremont course in 12:19, had won the 2.1-mile Lynbrook Center Meet a week earlier. Nast did not run at Lynbrook, but she placed 11th out of 117 runners in the senior division of the prestigious Early Bird Invitational, Sept. 6 in Salinas.
Lynbrook sophomore Lauren Tang placed fourth at the Firebird in 12:32, one second behind Bita Manesh of Santa Clara and five seconds in front of Saratoga junior Karen Wai, who placed sixth. Cupertino freshman Christy Khouderchah (12:56) placed eighth, five seconds better than Homestead senior Emily Evans, who finished 10th. Kristen Peanasky, another Mustang senior, was 13th in 13:36.
Lynbrook claimed the first-place plaque in the 13-team, 85-runner contest with 63 points. Saratoga took second with 114, two ahead of Homestead and 10 better than fourth-place Cupertino. Host Fremont was sixth with 154.
Joining Huang and Tang in the Vikings' top five runners were juniors Chianna Wang (17th), Michelle Yee (18th) and Kristen Bryson (24th). Supporting Nast and Wai for Saratoga were juniors Christine La (28th), Sophia Cooper (30rh) and Senior Alexa Wallin was Fremont's top runner, placing 19th in 13:54, the same clocking as Olivia Smith of St. Francis. Alanna Chan of Homestead placed 21st in 13:56, five seconds and two places in front of Fremont freshman Jasmine Mireshghi.
Lynbrook also won the varsity boys title at last week's Firebird. Paced by junior Luca Signore's third-place finish of 10:22, the Vikings' low-point total of 78 points was 30 better than runner-up Cupertino. Homestead (115) finished third and Fremont (157) took seventh, edging Wilcox by a point.
Josh McDonald, a junior from Redwood Christian of Castro Valley, was the boys champion. He ran 10:14, five seconds better than Los Altos junior Eric Safai and eight better than Signore. Homestead senior Nick Oliver placed fourth in 10:42 and Lynbrook junior Amrit Subramanian (10:52) was sixth, edging Fremont senior Jose Gurrola by a second.
Junior Max Pommier was Cupertino's top finisher out of 83 runners, taking ninth in 10:57. Wilcox senior Jim Ngo placed 11th, one spot and one second ahead of Fremont junior Saul Pacheco (11:07). Cupertino freshman Peter Anthony (11:16) placed 15th and Lynbrook senior Gene Burinskiy (11:18) edged Homestead junior Mike Louthan by one second for 20th.
A week earlier at the Lynbrook meet, Signore finished second behind Safai, and the Vikings won the team crown. Oliver was third and Pommier fourth. Junior twin brothers Weston and Nathan Strum of Pioneer ran fifth and sixth, with Prospect freshman Grant Foster placing eighth.
Homestead senior Brian Wong (11:47) beat junior teammate Erik Nelsen by nine seconds to capture the Firebird's junior varsity boys race. Another Mustang, sophomore Andrew Davis, claimed the frosh-sop title with an effort of 11:20.
With 142 runners representing 12 schools in the girls' junior varsity competition, Saratoga and Los Gatos both scored 55 points, but Saratoga was awarded the team championship based on the finishes of each team's sixth-best runner.
Los Gatos sophomore Melissa Iarocci (13:57) placed second, just eight seconds behind winner Sarah Field of Santa Clara. Another Wildcat, sophomore Jensen Fabris, ran fourth in 14:08, six places ahead of teammate Nicole McDuffie (14:49). Claire Knowles placed 16th for Los Gatos and Brittany Mulgannon 23rd.
Saratoga's fastest runners in the JV race were freshmen. Louise Guy took 11th in 14:58, Darby Williams 13th in 15:05 and Natasha Marzolf 15th in 15:12. Sophomore Hannah Harter was 17th in 15:19, just two places and three seconds ahead of teammate Amanda Olson.
The difference was Saratoga's sixth runner, freshman Carolynn Choi, placed 33rd, seven spots ahead of Los Gatos' next runner.
Early Bird Invitational
Monta Vista's Jean Feng placed fourth in the senior girls division, running 19:12 on El Toro Park's 3-mile course. Nast clocked 19:52 at El Toro, which will be the site of the Central Coast Section championships.
Los Gatos teammates Rachel Stump (20:18) and Lissa Zimmer (21:19) placed 15th and 19th, respectively.
Alan Menezes of Saratoga took 10th out of 193 senior boys, clocking 16:33. Teammate Kian Banks placed 21st in 17:14, nine places and 15 seconds better than Dave Frazer of Los Gatos.
In the junior boys contest, Kranti Peddada of Monta Vista placed 11th in a field of 253, leading the Matadors to a seventh-place finish out of 23 teams. Ravi Garcia of Los Gatos was three places back in 17:29 and David Beam was 20th in 17:41.
Saratoga's Wai placed sixth out of 166 junior girls, running 20:38. Monta Vista, led by Kelli Sum (41st) and Aditi Krishnapriyan (42nd) placed sixth in the team race.
Los Gatos' Will Geiken finished sixth out of 258 sophomore runners. Geiken's time of 17:03 was nearly a minute better than Saratoga Kyle Fukui (18:02), who was 23rd. Fukui finished five places and six seconds better than Jesse He of Monta Vista. Cameron Shawhan (18:45) of Los Gatos ran 45th.
Katie Castro of Los Gatos captured fourth place in the girls sophomore race.
Chieftain Classic
Westmont freshman Abbey Blake placed fifth out of 251 varsity girls at the Chieftain Classic, Sept. 13 at El Toro Park in Salinas. Blake ran the 3-mile contest in 19:51.