Los Altos Town Crier » Local relay team finishes third at Hershey’s meet

By Pete Borello

$Image from article Local relay team finishes third at Hershey\'s meet$
courtesy of Charlie Lemak
Olympic decathlon champion Dan O’Brien, second from right, stands with the Flying Cheetahs relay team, from left, Adam Sorensen, Stefan Lemak, Thomas Burch and Pascal Purro.

It wasn’t the Flying Cheetahs’ best effort, but it was still good enough for them to finish third in the 4×100-meter relay at the recent Hershey’s North American Track and Field Finals.

The team of Adam Sorensen, Thomas Burch, Pascal Purro and Stefan Lemak - all Los Altos residents - bagged the bronze in the under-12 boys division with a time of 56.41 seconds.

“Due to some trouble with a baton pass, this wasn’t our fastest time this season,” said Charlie Lemak, coach of the Los Altos-based Flying Cheetahs Track Club. “However, we knew we’d be competing against the best in the nation, so our goal was to shoot for first but settle for no less than third, so we accomplished our goal.”

Relay teams from eight regions competed in the Aug. 5 race in Hershey, Pa. The Flying Cheetahs qualified by clocking the best time in Region 2, comprising California, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii. The Sorensen-to-Burch-to-Purro-to-Lemak relay posted a time of 55.72 seconds at the Nor-Cal State Track and Field Games June 17 at San Jose City College.

Getting to Hershey to race against the best wasn’t the only highlight of the Flying Cheetahs’ trip.

“The boys enjoyed the opportunity to meet and spend time with great Olympians like Rafer Johnson, Carl Lewis and several others,” coach Lemak said. “They were awarded their bronze medals by 1996 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Dan O’Brien.”

All four relay-team members attended Los Altos elementary schools and start at either Blach Intermediate School or Egan Junior High this week.

For more information about the Flying Cheetahs Track Club, an all-volunteer organization open to boys and girls 9-14, e-mail impops@sbcglobal.net.

Gallagher gets to Jr. Olympics

At a different national youth track meet the previous weekend, another local resident made her presence known. Running at the USATF National Junior Olympics in Baltimore, Kieran Gallagher of Los Altos Hills finished among the top 14 in two events.

Gallagher, competing in the Midget Girls division (ages 11-12), reached the finals of the 1,500 run and placed 14th with a time of 5:13.30. She just missed advancing in the 800, finishing ninth overall by clocking 2:25.94.

Gallagher’s coach - Willie Young of the Palo Alto Lightning Track Club - expected her to finish higher in both events, but he said the 90-plus degrees temperatures took a toll on the 11-year-old.

“It was hot, hot,” Young said. “The humidity was just atrocious.”