But head coach Monica Townsend was still pretty excited by the performance of her Wildcats at the CCS finals held Nov. 16 at Toro Park in Soquel.

Why wouldn't she be? After all, Los Gatos did run to a second-place finish in the CCS Division 2 finals with five runners in the top 20—and three of them were freshmen.

Christine Jones, Ali Rubnitz and Ariana Nicewonger—all first-year high school students—joined seniors Erica Williams and Carolyn Penner among the CCS leaders in the Saturday run on the coast. And all that means is that Townsend and the Wildcats can look forward to a pretty bright future on the cross country trails.

Jones led the way for the Wildcats, running fourth overall in the division in 19:34. She was the top freshman finisher in the division and the second freshman overall in CCS, finishing an eyelash behind Zoe Unruh of St. Ignatius, though the two recorded identical times.

Jones' effort helped the Cats to a team second behind Gunn. The Titans finished with a low 37 points to take the title, with Gatos second at 57 and Lynbrook a distant third at 91.

Jones was followed to the finish gate by teammate Williams, who was sixth in 19:43. Penner ended up 14th in 20:36, with Rubnitz 18th in 20:49 and Nicewonger 19th in 20:57.

Sophomore Allie Lemon ran 39th in 21:52 and Shana Ravel was 40th in 21:53 to round out the field for the Cats.

Leigh, champs of the Blossom Valley Athletic League's Santa Teresa Division a week earlier, ended up sixth in CCS Division 2.

Senior Valerie Weilert, second in the league meet, was 10th at CCS in 20:17 for the Longhorns. Freshman Kaela Hoch—fifth in the league—was 20th in 21:00, with junior Paige Volden 45th in 22:19, freshman Jackie Hill—ninth in league—46th in 22:20 and freshman Suzanne Hancock 63rd in 23:26.

The Los Gatos boys, meanwhile, nailed a top 10 finish in CCS Division 2, behind the efforts of junior Nathan Young.

Young covered the 3.0-mile course in 17:30 to finish 21st in the division and lead the Wildcats to a team ninth.

Gunn ran to the team title in the division, with Carlmont second, Menlo-Atherton third, Leland fourth, Aragon fifth, Overfelt sixth, Leigh seventh, North Salinas eighth and Los Gatos ninth. Alisal rounded out the top 10.

Supporting Young's effort were Los Gatos finishers Marcus Huynh, 45th in 18:11; Greg Geldman, 54th in 18:20; Don Gaspar, 64th in 18:50; and Tyler DeSantis, 69th in 19:00.

Leading Leigh to the seventh-place finish in the team poll was Ben Hancock, ninth in 16:49. Tim Matthiessen was 40th in 18:00, with Jason Awe 48th in 18:13, Clark Rodgers 59th in 18:35 and Eric Bryant 60th in 18:38.

The Leigh boys, like the girls, had won the Santa Teresa Division championship a week earlier.