The talented Saratoga senior separated herself from the pack, adding another first place finish to her long list of accomplishments. Follmar covered the 2.95-mile course at Crystal Springs in Belmont—a site familiar to the majority of the runners—in 18:00, which was almost 45 seconds faster than her nearest competitor.
Senior Jessica Douglas was the next Falcon to cross the finish line, ending up 18th overall in 21:03. Seconds after Douglas came freshman Katrin Cooper (20th in 21:07), with senior Chelsea Young (29th in 22:11), junior Jennifer Tam (36th in 22:47) and senior Roxana Safipour (37th in 22:50) helping the Falcons clinch fourth in the team standings.
The Saratoga boys had a little better luck as a team, running second overall. Senior Hari Iyer crossed the finish line in 15:48, which was good enough for second place and only five seconds off of the leader. After Iyer came junior Ken Douglas (11th in 17:05).
Only seconds after Douglas crossed the finish line, another Falcon joined him. Junior Henry Barmeier finished the race in 17:12, which was fast enough to finish 17th overall. Sophomore Brad Jacobs (21st in 17:22) was the next of the Saratoga finishers, followed by junior Robbie Paolini (28th in 18:03) and junior Scott Surrette (31st in 18:17).
The Monta Vista, Los Gatos, Saratoga and Fremont boys all qualified for the Central Coast Section meet. The event is set is set for Nov. 13 at Toro Park in Salinas.
As one of the top three finishers from a non-qualifying team, Lynbrook senior Luis Jensen (17:11) also will represent the DAL at CCS.
The top four girls teams were Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monta Vista and Saratoga. Two Lynbrook girls, sophomore MayC Huang (19:37) and freshman Cindy Ju (21:41), also will compete at the CCS event. Huang, who placed eighth in the league meet, easily had the best time among runners from non-qualifying teams.
Palm stars for Panthers
The panther is one of the fastest animals in the jungle, and in the Blossom Valley Athletic League cross country finals on Nov. 11 at least one member of the Prospect Panthers certainly lived up to that name.
Prospect didn't run away with a victory, but Beckie Palm ran like the Panthers' namesake on the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course.
Despite being unable to field a complete team of five runners, the Panthers were impressive thanks to the solid effort by the senior Palm, who finished fourth overall in 19:35.
Along with Palm came junior teammate Jen Kocisko (21:47). Kocisko's time was good enough for 36th-place overall.
The Prospect boys were able to field an entire team, but ended up 18th in the team standings. Leading the pride of Panthers was junior Steve Derending (18:26), who finished 62nd. Following Derending was junior Aj Pala (95th in 19:33), junior Alex Lin (97th in 19:43), junior Alex Duong (104th in 19:53) and sophomore Scott Hines (112th in 20:22).
Junior Jessica Wacker (20:26) led the Westmont charge at the BVAL finals, finishing sixth to lead the Warriors to 16th in the team standings.
Following Wacker was freshman Laura Smith (92nd in 24:31) with Xandra Cirpuz (103rd in 25:26), Michiko Takyu (106th in 25:31) and sophomore Erin Salas (109th in 26:22).
Like Prospect's girls, the Westmont boys were not able to field an entire team of runners. Junior Spencer Wong (19:45) led the attack for the boys of Westmont with a 99th-place finish overall. Seconds later came sophomore Jacob Publicover.