Follmar romps to a second-place finish at Monterey Invitational
By Dick Sparrer
There were 147 girls in the field for the Monterey Bay Invitational Oct. 18 at Toro Park.

Only one of them, though, could outrun Saratoga's Alicia Follmar to the finish line.

Follmar, just a sophomore, covered the 3.0-mile course in 18:33 to finish second to Gunn senior Ruth Graham in the Friday run in Monterey.

Still, Follmar's effort could help the Falcons to just a 15th-place finish in the Friday field.

It was Monta Vista leading the local effort, running eighth in the girls' field behind Dana Underwood's solid showing. The talented junior finished 18th overall in 20:14 to lead the Matadors.

But it was Monta Vista's boys who were the real local stars of the day. The Matadors raced to a team fourth behind a solid showing by sophomore standout Jason Yow.

Yow finished fifth in 16:14 to lead the Matadors into the top five in the team poll. Teammate Scott Russell supported with a 14th-place finish in 16:41.

Ian Laform ran 22nd in 16:54 for the Mats, with Julian Kolev 27th in 17:12 and Drew Fetterman 53rd in 17:46.

There were 159 runners in the field.

Del Mar's Nick Clinton finished 31st in 17:16 the same day, with teammate Angel Gonzalez 36th in 17:25.

Steve Surrette led Saratoga to a team 11th by finishing 46th in 17:40. Hari Subrananiam was 61st in 17:59, with Jacob Osborne 74th.

Scott Smith of Prospect ended up 68th in 18:03.

Prospect's Becky Palm starred on the girls' side. The sophomore finished 19th in 20:16 in the Friday meet.

Jill Blake-Burke of Monta Vista supported Underwood's effort by running 24th in 20:28. Teammate Katherine Chu was 53rd, with Christine Yow 64th.

Agnieskza Goslicka of Lynbrook finished 48th in 21:22, and King's Academy freshman Jessica Butelo was 50th in 21:28.

In the boys junior varsity on Friday, Monta Vista's Max Schemelinin raced to a sixth-place finish in 18:05, with teammates Elliot Jones 10th in 18:26, Matt Paquet 14th, Nayson Fernandes 16th and Gabe Hendel 17th.

The Matadors ended up third in the team standings with 55 points. Palo Alto was first at 36, with Gunn second at 37.

Lynbrook's Morgan Katz was 27th, with teammate Kevin Sun 28th to lead the Vikings to a team fifth in the JV race.

There were 170 runners in the field.