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Alicia Follmar ('05)
A senior and two-time All-American
runner at Stanford University, Alicia recently caught national attention when despite streaming blood flowing down her face,
she regained her stride to move from 10th to 3rd in the remaining two laps at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
Alicia
realized she might have a knack for running when she was at the front of the races on the cross country and track teams at
Redwood Middle School. By the time she arrived at Saratoga High, she was fully committed to cross country and track,
and played soccer in between the seasons.
To run at Stanford was always sort of a far off dream for Alicia in
the beginning of high school. At that time she did not know much about collegiate athletics, and didn't think too much
about it either. But as she became a more mature and faster runner during high school, gradually the dream also became
more realistic.
When asked of her most memorable sports moments at SHS, Alicia said, "I really liked my days on the
soccer team even though there were no particular moments. In running, my most memorable moments were winning state titles
as a sophmore and junior."
Alicia is now training at a much higher level than in high school; however, she doesn't
find it harder because according to her, "I have talented teammates to train with." Alicia says collegiate running has
been a natural transition for her because contrary to her original assumption, college athletes are down to earth people who
are easygoing outside of practices.
To SHS
athletes that are inspired to compete at the collegiate level, Alicia says, "I would reccommend that athletes from SHS should
definitely put schoolwork as their number one priority, because this is something that coaches will look for not only to get
you admitted to their school, but also to evaluate what kind of a person you will be once in college. If you are especially
interested in a particular school, contact the coach by mail or email, don't wait for them to contact you. When looking at
colleges, I would say to envision where you would be happy without sports, and go there, instead of where you think has the
best team because you never know if sports will work out and it's most important to be happy as a student."
As to
life after Stanford, Alicia has found out that she will be heading to Harvard Dental School - a program that accepts
only thirty-five incoming students a year. Alicia's mom, Debbie, is completely convinced that aside from outstanding
academics achievements, running has set Alicia apart from competing applicants.
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