Photograph by Robert Scheer
The Los Gatos girls, off and running in this early season meet, ran to a team title at the Serra Invitational.
By Dick Sparrer
Joseph Carter wasn't running in the varsity class at the Serra Invitational--he was running in a class by himself.
Carter entered the sophomore division at the Serra Invitational Oct. 12 at Crystal Springs, and he ran away from the field to finish first in 16:24 on the 2.95-mile course.
Carter led the Los Gatos boys' cross-country team to a second-place finish in the sophomore division, and he did by running a brilliant race.
"This race convinces me that he can reach whatever goal he sets," Los Gatos Coach Steve Barth said after the race. "He looked awesome, very focused from beginning to end."
Carter's performance was far and away the best for any Los Gatos boy in the Serra field, but the Gatos girls also shined that day.
"This was our most outstanding race as a team this season," Gatos coach Willie Harmatz said after his girls ran away with the team title in the varsity division.
"We dominated the race," he added. "It was a beautiful sight. We looked like a championship team out there."
Newcomer Sarah McAleer led the Gatos effort. In just her third race of the year, McAleer finished third overall in 19:38 to lead the Cats to the finish line.
"She beat many fine runners," Harmatz said of McAleer. "Her finish was fantastic. She had a bright future."
Jeanne Fishback was seventh in 20:02 with Lina Biber-Ferro 10th in 20:12, Sarah High 14th in 20:25, Amy LaPine 28th in 21:10 and Andy Knudsen 35th in 21:19.
Los Gatos ran up a low 62 points to win the title in the 32-team field. Gunn a very distant second at 115.
The Gatos junior varsity ran to a third-place finish with Carol Chen leading the way in seventh in 22:07.
Laura Sund was 11th in 22:23 with Krista Ellsworth 17th in 22:50, Jenny Uhrowczik 29th in 23:35 and Georganne O'Brien 49th in 24:56.
The Los Gatos boys' varsity, meanwhile, finished 11th overall with Ben Martin leading the way with a 24th-place finish in 17:15. David Landers was 62nd in 18:15.
But it was Carter taking top honors with his first in the sophomore race. Pat Sullivan was 15th in 17:57 with Jeff Ouellet 17th in 18:03, Phil Smith 22nd in 18:12 and Zack Regner 43rd in 18:51 to lead Gatos to a team second.
Jon Edwards was 32nd in 19:41 and Caleb Hayashi was 33rd in 19:42 to lead the Los Gatos boys' freshman team to a ninth-place finish. Tim Odell was 42nd in 20:10.
Steve Todd ran 59th in 20:44 and Kyle Stavis was 60th in 20:45 to lead the Los Gatos JV boys to a team 14th.
A week earlier, Los Gatos had split its squads to compete in both the Stanford Invitational and Half Moon Bay Invitational.
The Gatos boys' and girls' varsity teams each finished sixth in the rugged Stanford field.
Carter was eighth in 16:56 on the 5K course and Joseph Carter was 30th in 17:34 to lead the Los Gatos boys to the sixth-place finish.
Jedd Martin was 42nd in 17:53 with B. Martin 67th in 18:21.
The Los Gatos girls, meanwhile, finished sixth, and it was a disappointing finish as far as Harmatz was concerned--well, at least for a while.
"I must admit, right after the race I was disappointed about not behind able to beat St. Ignatius," he said. The Wildcats finished two notches behind fourth-place SI, the only Central Coast Section team above Gatos in the standings.
"But then I realized that we are just a step away from competing with the great teams," he added, "and that when the state meet rolls around we will definitely be more prepared."
"We had to run against these teams now, to find out that we really do have the people that can run with them," the coach said.
Fishback led the Cats by finishing 34th in 21:19. LaPine was 44th in 21:47, McAleer 45th in 21:48, Biber-Ferro 47th in 21:54 and High 50th in 23:12.
The same day, Uhrowczik finished 24th in 17:19 in the frosh-soph race at Half Moon Bay. Chen was 59th in 16:42 as a member of the Gatos jv team in the varsity race.
Smith starred at Half Moon Bay for the Los Gatos boys. The freshman was second in his division in 13:21 to lead the Gatos frosh team to a solid finish. Regner was 11th in 14:04 with Hayashi 30th in 14:41, Edwards 32nd in 14:42 and Odell 33rd in 14:49.
Landers was 58th in the varsity race in 13:34 for the Wildcats and George Halldin was 76th in the junior varsity race in 17:17. Ryan Smith ran 10th in 13:29 in the frosh-soph race with Jordan Stuhlmueller running 20th in 13:48.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 23, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved