Only four of them, though, could outrun Christine Jones of Los Gatos to the finish line.

Jones, just a freshman, covered the 3.0-mile course in 18:51 to finish fifth overall and lead the Wildcats to a team third in the Friday run in Monterey.

Senior Erica Williams was 15th in 19:59, with senior Carolyn Penner 20th in 20:17, freshman Ali Rubnitz 29th in 20:48 and junior Shana Ravel 29th in 20:48 to round out the Los Gatos showing.

Gunn ran up a low 52 points to take the team title, with Milpitas second (86) and Los Gatos third (102).

The Los Gatos boys, meanwhile, ended up 14th in the team poll on Friday at Monterey. Nathan Young led the Gatos effort, finishing 45th in the 159-runner field in 17:37. Greg Geldman was 54th in 17:46, with Tyler DeSantis 86th in 18:20, Marcus Huynh 105th in 18:50 and Don Gasper 108th in 18:59.

In the boys junior varsity on Friday, Los Gatos finished fourth in the team standings behind Palo Alto, Gunn and Monta Vista. Alex Hudson led the Cats with a 13th-place finish in 18:43. Steven Whitham was 24th, with Seth Smart 25th, Michael Floyd 34th and Walter Prows 54th.

There were 170 runners in the field.

In girls JV action, Ashley Harris finished ninth overall in 22:43 to lead Los Gatos to a team seventh. Freshman Stephanie Girsback was 14th, with Shannon Kehrig 21st, Becky Chappell 51st and Caitlin Phelps 53rd.

A couple of weeks earlier, the Gatos girls ran to a team second in the varsity division at the Artichoke Invitational at Half Moon Bay High School.

Jones raced over the 2.25-mile course in 13:47 to finish second overall, leading the Cats to a team second.

Penner was 22nd in the 222-runner field, with Williams 32nd, Ravel 54th and Stephanie Wilcox 65th.

"This was our best show as a team so far this year," said Gatos coach Monica Townsend. "I warned everyone that this is a huge race and to not be intimidated by the number of runners on the start line."

"This team's talent for staying calm and focused on the task at hand will be the deciding factor when it comes time to beat Gunn at CCS [Central Coast Section] finals," added the coach.

Townsend was pleased with her squad's showing, especially that of Wilcox, just a freshman.

"Stephanie shone brightly on her first tour on varsity," said Townsend. "She went out smart, kept a cool head, made the critical decision to work her way up and completed our tough top five as the sixth-best freshman in the race."

The Los Gatos girls ended up ninth in the frosh-soph race. Girsback was 22nd, with Chappell 54th, Adrianne Smits 84th, Phelps 86th and Aliza Deloumi 88th.