This is where you can see all who have passed through our wonderful cross-country program at Saratoga High School.
Class of 2009
Ashley Chou
Lisa Clark
Tracy Hinojosa
Stephanie Kwan
Christina Lauro
Shawna Lempert
Katie Nast
Connie Shang
Sarah Tang
Class of 2008
Katrin Cooper
Anna Souskova
Class of 2007
Laurel Hui
Nisha Haran
Olga Reshetova
Brianna Troxell
Tarini Ullal
Class of 2006
Henry Barmeier
Tran Le
Robbie Paolini
Laura Reeve
Scott Surrette
Ryan Tang
Andrew Wu
Class of 2005
Jasmine Alkhatib - Jasmine was a dedicated runner. As a matter of fact, she still is . . I've seen her running along highway 9 this summer. By the time you get through these, you'll see that dedication was key to all members of this squad . .
John Calderon - John was one of the three senior boys on the cross-country team to stick it out for four years. He continued to come out to practice every day until the end of his senior year. We all learned the importance of dedication and persistence from John. Even though John wasn't the fastest guy out there, he would always finish the work outs that coach assigned and he'd always finish his races. John was also on the Falcon staff. John's kicking it down south at UCLA.
Daniel Chen - Daniel Chen is the second of the three senior boys on the cross-country team to compete for four years. Daniel was a respectable athlete who ran well. Daniel was also a member of the badminton team which, whether you like it or not, has performed quite well.
Alex Chiu - As a transfer from Singapore during his senior year, you would expect Alex Chiu to have some trouble finding what to do. Clearly, he picked the right team. Alex was unfortunately unable to compete for the majority of the season due to shin splints. However he showed up at a bunch of the meets to cheer his teammates on. He was also a member of the wrestling team. Alex will be spending the next best years of his life at UCSD.
Jessica Douglas - Jessica surprised everyone when she showed up on the first day of practice. A senior, she was already known as the school's top swimmer, but few expected her to race on land. She is in excellent shape and continued to get faster as she got used to using her legs to run instead of to kick. Jessica was a solid second scorer, and helped organized the excursion known as Operation Blue Port-a-potty. She made varsity by placing second at the team trials. Jessica also enjoys sewing and girl scouting. By the end of her first season of cross-country, Jessica had climbed onto the record books and finished her season with a phenomenal 23rd place finish at CCS. She currently attends McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Tommy Dutra - Tommy is the first person in the history of this school to be able to run cross-country his freshman year, skip it for two years, and snatch a varsity spot his senior year. Tommy isn't the fastest guy on the team, but he seems to be good luck - the team has won all three of their meets since Tommy joined. His career highlights include not finishing last at the Firebird Invitational. When Tommy isn't running, he can be found zipping through the streets of Saratoga, listening to rock music in his blue Volkswagon GTI. You'll find him having a ball down in UCSB.
Alicia Follmar - Alicia was a senior captain for the falcons. Her goal was to lead the team to many top finishes. She was a four year varsity cross country runner and was one of the most experienced and modest runners on the team. Her career highlights included but are not limited to three (that's right) state titles, two 1600m titles and one x-c title, and third place finish in the 1600m race at the Adidas Outdoor National Championships. That's not to mention CCS titles in x-c two years in a row, (three years for the mile) and *numerous*(read . . too many to mention) other wins at invitationals. She likes to play soccer and eat healthy food in her spare time. She was accepted to Stanford during the summer of 2004. We'll hear more from her soon enough.
Hari Iyer - Hari was a senior captain in his fourth year of cross country for the Falcons. He was the top runner in 2003 and would be the leader again for his senior year. He liked to run his races by leading from the start, but would learn that it pays to be patient. His career highlights included a win at Firebird 2003 and a berth to the State Meet in '03 and '04. He was also an excellent two miler in track. His hobbies included running PG&E and creating works of art. At least he thought they were. I'm going to be at Dartmouth for four years.
Anjali Kumar - Anjali was a captain for the falcons during the '04 cross country season. She had already ran for the falcons for four years, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Sunita. She ran all of the financial projects that year, including shirt orders and paying for the location of our famous end-of-the-season banquet. She also turned out the be quite the academic and earned Salutatorian honors in 2005. She is currently studying at Stanford University.
Chelsea Young - Chelsea, a senior, figured to be a key member of the varsity squad in '04. She was a consistent varsity scorer during the '03 season and was a key member of Mitty's team during her first two years of high school before transferring to Saratoga. She brought experience, leadership and a wry sense of humor to the team. Chelsea was always ready to lift everyone's spirits with a witty remark. She was also a key factor in Operation Blue Port-a-potty (surprise!). She was an 800 meter runner in track who made it to the CCS qualifier meet, so watch out for her speed in cross country. Chelsea is super smart and also super goofy. Chelsea was accepted to Stanford University during December of 2004.
Class of 2004
Josie Chan
Jessica Chang
Chris Chapman
Chrissie Chew
Kevin Courtoy
Kenna Crouch
Rami El-Diwany
Dimitry Gulgazian
John Huang
Jackie Luskey
Jackie Molzon
Vik Rajamanickam
Steve Surrette - Steve was an athletic individual on and off the track. In addition to running cross-country, he can hold his own in a variety of other sports - football, hockey, basketball, dodgeball, and cricket. He was MVP in 2002 (led a very young and inexperienced team to CCS finals following the passing of Coach Marshall Clark) and team captain in 2002 and 2003. He currently is partying it up down at UCSD.
Rachel Tennenbaum
So who are we, anyways?
In case you still haven't figured it out yet, we're the Saratoga High school cross-country team. Not Saratoga Springs, not Saratoga, NY. We like to run. A lot. It's what we do. We also like headbands.
Unfortunately, we don't know too much about the history of the team. All we know is that our varsity boys team placed second in CCS way back in 1975, led by a pack of some of the fastest runners ever seen by this school. We then became an average high school team, having our ups and downs, but nothing legendary.
Fast forward to 2001.
Coach Marshall Clark was ecstatic. The boy's team consisted of a strong bunch of seniors, all of whom had been running cross-country for four years. A set of twins, David La and Richard La were already well-known as two of the fastest 800 meter runners in CCS. Their fellow senior class teammates, Brett Stanger, Don Prolo, and Trevor Adams were all ready to take the team to the top.
Then things got even better. Will Kraemer, a well-known athlete from southern California with state experience joined the Falcon squad. The girls received outstanding young talent from Redwood in Alicia Follmar, who astounded everyone by blazing through team trials. The falcons were ready to go.
The season was one to remember. Led by Will, David and Richard, Saratoga was placed on the map again. Will became a regular on the morning announcements, and the Saratoga cross-country team started to gain recognition once more. The 2001 Falcon Squad finished second as a team in CCS, with Will getting a CCS DIII title in the process. The team then went to the state meet and placed fifth, with Will becoming the first (but most definitely not last) falcon to receive a state title.
The following year signaled the rebuilding process for the falcons. Steve Surrette and Jacob Osborne were the only remaining varsity athletes from the stellar boys' squad of the previous year. Luckily, help came with the initiation of Henry Barmeier, Ken Douglas, Robbie Paolini and Scott Surrette of the class of 2006. Unfortunately, we lost Coach Clark the very same year to a heart attack. As the team tried to cope with his loss, Coach Peter Jordan took over the reins of both the boy's and girl's programs. The boy's team finished the season for Coach Clark by qualifying to CCS, which had been considered virtually impossible. Alicia set foot in Fresno for the first time under Coach Jordan's watchful eyes.
When the fall of 2003 rolled around, the Saratoga and Lynbrook teams decided to hold an annual 4 mile fun run in memory of Coach Clark. The first event was a success, with two hundred runners competing in the event. The boys team had grown faster over the track season, and in addition to winning the Saratoga Invitational, the men's falcon squad bettered its position in CCS and sent an individual to the state meet. Alicia Follmar had become a well-known figure over the past two years and won her first division III cross-country state title.
Now it's 2004.
We've been working hard over the past three years. We've got two sub-4:40 minute milers.We've got a majority of upperclassmen again. We've got a strong transfer as well in Brad Jacobs. We've got headbands. We just won our first meet. It won't be the last one we win this season. We're in good position in preseason rankings in CCS. You picked the right time to join. So sit down, pull up a chair and get ready. Cuz we're back.
So the season of 2004 came and went, and the Saratoga Falcons were back on fire. Alicia Follmar had another slew of outstanding performances, as she won the Stanford Invitational and was crowned CCS champion. She also destroyed several course records on her way to Fresno.The varsity boys team started off strong with three straight wins at the Lynbrook Center Meet, the Firebird Invitational and the Saratoga Invitational. The class of 2006 proved itself as Henry Barmeier, Ken Douglas, Scott Surrette, and Robbie Paolini blazed through the meets and posted solid times and low scores. Andrew Wu earned his spot alongside these swashbuckling athletes as he raced to seize the seventh spot on the team. Brad Jacobs lived up to his hype as well, and shot to the top of the pack. The team placed seventh at the Stanford Invitational, and everyone beat their man on the state team of 2001. The team was brought back down to earth after a humiliating sixth place at Central Park, but then the team slipped back into gear. When not racing, the team spent its time carving pumpkins and then dropping them off at unsuspecting coaches' houses, or engaging in a friendly game of charades. The dynamic journalist duo, Chelsea and Laura, chronicled the team's success in the Saratoga Falcon. The team awaited anxiously for the CCS meet to arrive. The CCS meet couldn't have gone any better. Everyone ran their best, and it was good enough to qualify for the state meet. With its goals accomplished, the team had nothing to do but rest and wait for the following year.
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