Led by standouts Aydon Stefanopoulos and Sophie Tau, the Los Gatos High boys and girls cross country teams won Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division championships at Crystal Springs in Belmont on Nov. 1.
The boys had a low score of 37 points to easily beat runner-up Lynbrook. The Los Gatos girls were even more dominant, finishing with 25 points to beat second-place Monta Vista by a whopping 54 positions. Tau continued her spectacular senior season, running the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course in a personal-record (PR) of 17 minutes, 57.8 seconds.
Sophomores Shea Elmore (second in 18:53.1) and Addison Lundstrom (third in 19:16.9) went second and third, allowing the Wildcats to sweep the top three individual spots. Juniors Abigail Zolla (20:35.7) and Kate Herron (20:45.6) finished ninth- and 10th, respectively, while sophomore Erika Snell ran a PR of 21:07.4 to place 15th.
The SCVAL De Anza and El Camino Division races were run separately, but Tau’s time was second overall, trailing only Lauren Soobrian of Los Altos who finished in 17:49.8. It was a breakthrough performance for Tau, who had a third, fourth and fifth-place finish in the three regular-season league meets.
A performance like this and another one in the Central Coast Section Championships on Nov. 12 would put Tau squarely among the section’s very elite.
“It’s a little scary,” she said. “I’ve always been in that second group, getting fourth or around there, so to get second overall was a big surprise. A race like this helps me to know I can stay with the top runners in CCS.”
While the muddy conditions weren’t ideal for fast times, the cool temperatures were perfect running weather. Tau said she and her teammates ran on the outer edges of the course away from the mud, allowing them to run fast times.
Tau led from the start after taking things out harder than she was planning to and as a result ran alone for most of the race.
“I’ve never led a race on that course before,” she said. “I definitely hung on for that last mile and was hurting because the first two miles I went out a lot faster than I usually do.”
Tau didn’t check her time until there was about a mile to go, at which point she thought she could go sub 18. She did just that, establishing an 18-second PR in the process.
“Besides the mud, the conditions were nice so I knew I needed to capitalize on them,” she said.
Tau has been remarkably consistent this season, but even then she was a bit surprised by her result.
“It’s always special to win and show a strong time compared to some of the runners from the El Camino Division,” she said.
Tau was proud of her teammates and has been particularly impressed with Lundstrom, who was on the junior varsity team last year.
“Addison is great because she improved a lot in the last track season and this season for cross country she’s been training really hard,” Tau said. “She’s going strong and very motivated. Every workout she’s close behind me or next to me, so I knew she could have a big PR. We can always count on her to finish strong and I’m really proud of her and know when I’m gone next year she’ll be one of the leaders on the team.”
Stefanopoulos continued his tremendous season with an eight-second PR at Crystal Springs, finishing in 15:30.3 to place first in the De Anza and the third fastest overall, behind Mountain View’s Evan Markelz (14:51.1) and Palo Alto’s Grant Morgenfeld (15:04.5).
The super sophomore had plenty of support as senior Keaton Wong finished seventh in 16:25.4, a big 28-second PR. Jack Fan was eighth in 16:31.5, and sophomore Ben Klarich was ninth in 16:36.2, a massive PR of nearly two minutes.
“Ben, I’m really proud of that guy,” Stefanopoulos said. “He’s always shown it in track, and I knew he could be pretty fast in cross country. Running Crystal Springs the second time around for him, you learn a lot. Where the hills are, where to push, and it’s really important to know that course.”
Junior Jensen Bidmead took 12th in 16:46.5, a 34-second PR, and seniors Will Jenkins and Noah Hale had nearly identical times as they finished a hip apart in 26th and 27th, respectively. Stefanopoulos felt great in warmups and had his race strategy dialed in.
However, as runners are bound to do, Stefanopoulos went out a little harder than he would’ve liked and ran a 4:58 first mile.
“I felt strong but was a little too excited,” he said. “So the race didn’t exactly happen as I had planned going into it.”
Around the first mile, Stefanopoulos felt “smooth and strong” going up one of the biggest hills on the course, at which point he thought he would go 15:40.
“That was kind of my mental state at the time,” he said. “I had mud going up my legs. I felt like I was cruising but I didn’t feel like I was going that fast.”
The sophomore said he was shocked he and most of his teammates were able to nail PRs.
“If you told us before the race we would have a PR, none of us would’ve believed you,” he said.
Stefanopoulos is known for having a strong finishing kick, and that was on display once again. With 1,000 meters to go, Los Gatos coach Paul Lawryk yelled out “six seconds” as Stefanopoulos ran by, which meant the next runner wasn’t far behind.
“I didn’t know that but once I heard that, I knew I could extend the lead,” said Stefanopoulos, who wound up winning the race by 19 seconds. “I relied on my strong kick and it was nice knowing I have that finishing speed.”
Sports editor Emanuel Lee can be reached at el**@we*****.com
