By Kevin Sparrer
Saratoga senior Brad Jacobs ran for the gold, but came up a little short at the Central Coast Section Division III cross country finals held last Saturday at Toro Park in Salinas. Jacobs ran his way to sixth in the division and to 21st overall in CCS, but Saratoga could only finish ninth in the division.
Jacobs covered the 3.0-mile course in 16:15 to nail sixth. Teammate Alan Menezes was 52nd in 17:45 with Nick Olsen 53rd in 17:48, Kunuk Shin 56th in 17:51 and Kian Banks 74th in 18:26. Rohan Nagesh and Kyle Borch also ran for the Falcons.
While the boys of Saratoga struggled, the girls excelled. Katie Nast led the female Falcons to a second place finish in Division III and an eighth place finish overall in CCS. With the second, Saratoga has qualified for the state meet set for Nov. 25 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Nast, a sophomore, finished ninth in the division and 36th overall in 19:24 and just behind her was teammate Kelly Lamble, who finished 11th in the division and 41st overall in 19:34. Karen Wai was 21st in 20:12 with Amanda Speedy 24th in 20:25 and Katrin Cooper 33rd in 20:56. Christine La and Sophia Cooper also ran for the Falcons.
For Lynbrook, it was Jason Wang who led the effort, running 17:02 to nail 27th in Division II and 86th overall. Lynbrook finished 10th in the division and 28 overall.
About 30 seconds behind Wang was Gene Burinskiy, 49th in 17:34, followed by Luca Signore (56th in 17:42), Eric Surprenant (60th in 17:50) and Amrit Subramanian (77th in 18:08). Also running for Lynbrook were Andrew Lum and Andrew Jang.
The girls from Lynbrook were almost identical to the boys. The girls also finished 10th in Division II and 31st overall. It was MayC Huang who led Lynbrook, finishing 34th in 20:36. Cindy Ju was 37th in 20:48 with Michelle Yee 38th in 20:51, Nishi Waghray 61st in 21:36 and Kristen Bryson 70th in 22:04. Also running for Lynbrook were Anna Sadovikova and Yvonne Fong.