But this year Follmar's not going to surprise anyone--it appears that the Saratoga sophomore will still be beating everyone.

At least she was last week when she ran to a victory in the annual Firebird Invitational on Sept. 12 at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale.

Follmar covered the 2.1-mile course in 11:40 to take the title in the girls varsity division. Follmar finished seven seconds ahead of runner-up Christine Jones of Los Gatos to win the race.

Lynbrook finished fifth in the team standings, with Aya Wakabayashi 13th in 12:54, Kate Bossange 20th in 13:32, Agnieszka Goslicka 22nd in 13:41 and Soo Lee 40th in 14:03.

Prospect's Rebecca Palm was 12th overall in 12:53, with Kristine Amii of Westmont 39th in 14:03 and Rachel Foust of Saratoga 43rd in 14:05.

Matthew Grilli of Milpitas was the boys varsity winner in 10:14, leading the Trojans to the team title.

Prospect's Nick Song ended up 15th in 10:57, with Saratoga's Steven Surrette (17th in 10:58) and Jacob Osborne (20th in 11:02) close behind. Eugene Berson of Lynbrook was 27th in 11:12, with Westmont's Michael Pickens 32nd in 11:19, Scott Smith of Prospect 35th in 11:23 and Nari Subramaniam of Saratoga 45th in 11:30.

In the girls junior varsity event, Lynbrook's Zohreh Akhaven and Christina Liao ran one-three, but it was Monta Vista cruising to the team title. Akhaven covered the course in 13:08 to finish first overall, with Liao third in 13:49.

Saratoga's Natalie Ku finished 13th in 14:52.

The Matadors also ran to a team victory in the boys junior varsity division, but it was Fremont's Leo Torres who came through with the best performance among local runners.

Saratoga's Daniel Chen was 10th overall in 12:20, with teammate Kent Booi 15th in 12:37.

Lynbrook's Charles Chen finished 12th in 12:24, with Hsiang Hsiao 13th in 12:27.