Photograph by Robert Scheer
Los Gatos track star Rose Sczawinski is off and running to start the 400 meters at the CCS track finals. Sczawinski finished second in 56.86 to earn a trip to the state finals this weekend.
By Dick Sparrer
Butch Lumby knew it was going to be a great day for the Los Gatos girls' track team.
And he knew as early as the first event of the Central Coast Section finals.
The Gatos girls opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 4x100 relay, and they nailed their second in record time.
"It was just incredible," the Los Gatos coach said of the effort put forth by the Wildcats quartet. And it was just the start of incredible things to come for Los Gatos.
Lina Biber-Ferro won the 800 meters, Rose Sczawinski and Ally Lombardi each ran to individual seconds and the Cats were second in both relays on the way to a team second at CCS.
Not to be outdone, the Los Gatos boys finished second in the 4x400 relay and added a two-three finish by Beebe Rutledge and Tom Newman in the 800 meters on the road to a team sixth at the finals.
All in all, it was quite a finish for the Wildcats. But they're not finished yet.
Los Gatos has qualified five individuals and three relay teams for state competition. They'll take part in the state meet on May 31-June 1 at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
And it was the girls' 4x100 relay team that started it all.
Lombardi, Stephanie Chavez, Kelly Lumby and Sczawinski joined forces to run a 48.19 to finish second to St. Francis's 47.68. The Gatos time snapped the old school record of 48.48 set in 1993.
Sczawinski, Biber-Ferro and Lombardi came with outstanding individual efforts at the finals.
Biber-Ferro and Lombardi finished one-two in the 800 meters, marking the first time in Los Gatos track history that Wildcats have finished first and second in the event at CCS.
Biber-Ferro covered the two laps in 2:15.39 with Lombardi close behind in 2:15.5. The times rank second and third on the all-time list at Los Gatos.
"They were running sixth and seventh in the first 200 and third and fourth at 400," Los Gatos assistant Willie Harmatz said of Biber-Ferro and Lombardi. "They moved into striking distance at 600 meters, and in the last turn they had so much left that no one could challenge them."
Biber-Ferro had finished third at CCS a year ago as a freshman, and missed the school record by just three-tenths of a second at CCS as a sophomore.
Sczawinski was equally as impressive in the 400. She was second in 56.86 after running the second-fastest time in school history in the trials, 56.76.
"Those were the best two 400s in a week in school history," Lumby said. Her personal best going into CCS was 57.92.
"She just did a beautiful job," Lumby added. "She was probably the most impressive for us. In the beginning of the year I told her she would have a good chance of winning the 400 at CCS, and she came close."
Los Gatos capped the day on the track with a second in the 4x400 relay in 3:53.14, crushing the old school record by two seconds. Lombardi opened with a 58.5 400 and Biber-Ferra ran 59.3. Chavez clocked in at 57.3 in her quarter and Sczawinski finished up with a 57.5.
Chavez supported with a fourth in the 100 in 12.34, missing a trip to the state meet in the event by two-hundredths of a second.
St. Francis ran up 72 points to win the CCS team title, but Los Gatos finished second with five girls contributing 46 points.
"I'm really proud of this team the way they fought back with no field points," Lumby said.
The Gatos boys also excelled at CCS with Rutledge and Newman leading the charge.
Rutledge was second in the 800 in 1:54.37 with Newman third in a lifetime best 1:54.4. "They did a beautiful job," Lumby said.
Both advance to the state meet in the 800, Rutledge as the No. 2 seed after running a school-record-setting 1:51.6 at Arcadia.
"This is the first time ever that we've sent four people in the same event," Harmatz said, referring to the two girls and two boys all competing in the 800 meters.
Gatos will also send a boys' team in the 4x400 relay. The Cats were second at CCS in 3:20.35 with Craig Conley (50.9), Manny Austin (50.6), Newman (49.3) and Rutledge (49.0) making up the foursome. "And they could go faster," Lumby said. "They could get the school record." The foursome is just off the school mark of 3:18.
Austin, in just his first year of track-and-field competition, finished fourth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at CCS in 39.44. Only the top three placers advance to state.
Still, Gatos has a strong contingent of athletes headed to state and Lumby is looking for a solid finish for the Wildcats.
"This is the best state meet in the United States, truly," he said. "The kids are really excited about it."
"And this is a great way to go out for me," said Lumby, who retires from coaching following this season. "It's a coach's dream."
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 29, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved