That wasn't the case, however, last weekend at the Stanford Track and Field Invitational.

The coach was able to put her healthy fearsome foursome together on Friday night, and that Gatos quartet of Christine Jones, Sally Stanton, Carolyn Penner and Erica Williams raced to a second-place finish in the rugged field.

"We ran the distance medley relay on Friday night full strength, the relay I wanted to run in New York," said Townsend. "We ended up in second place out of 28 top middle distance programs from across the state."

Jones opened the race with a 3:45.5 1,200-meter leg, and Stanton sprinted to a 61.7 in the 400. The team was running a close third when Penner took the baton for the 800 leg, and her 2:23.7 gave the Cats the lead. Williams finished up with "an incredible final kick" for a 5:21.6 1,600 meters.

The combined time of 12:32.86 was good for second in the race and ranked the quartet third on the Los Gatos all-time list.

Stanton came back that night to soar 10-0 in the pole vault, finishing 11th in a field of 28 vaulters.

In boys action, Nik Kay came through with the biggest performance of the day for the Wildcats with a win in the discus. The powerful Gatos senior whirled the platter 178-3 to claim the gold medal.

The Gatos girls came back on Saturday morning to nail fourth place in the 4x800 relay: Penner (2:23.8), Ashley Benson (2:28.4), Caroline Stege (2:28.5) and Jones (2:19.8)

"[Jones'] phenomenal kick over the last 250 meters almost caught both the third- and second-place teams," said Townsend. "She ran her leg in a negative split fashion for a personal record."

The team time of 9:40.56 was good for fourth in the race and seventh on the Los Gatos all-time list.

Williams wrapped things up for the Wildcats with a sensational showing in the mile, running 14th in 5:19.46 "in the fast heat of what is widely considered the toughest race at this invitational," said Townsend

The Los Gatos girls will face a tough test in dual meet competition this week when the Wildcats travel to Palo Alto on April 2 to visit undefeated Gunn.

Los Gatos will host the Central Coast Section's top freshman and sophomore track and field athletes on April 4 for the CCS Frosh-Soph Classic. The meet begins at 4 p.m.