So the freshman sensation wasn't about to let a little thing like a side cramp keep her from running to her potential at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League meet last Saturday that was a qualifier for the Central Coast Section semifinals.

"She pulled out of the mile because of a side cramp," said Los Gatos coach Monica Townsend. "I told her to stretch it out, then just go hard enough to qualify [for CCS] in the 800."

Jones evidently paid attention to half of her coach's advice. She stretched out the muscle, then went out and raced to a win in the 800 meters, running her second best time of the year. After starting slow, she came on strong to post a 2:16.85, good for first place.

What's more, she finished up the night by anchoring the Los Gatos 4x400 relay team to a victory in come-from-behind fashion.

"When she got the stick in the 4x4, we were five to 10 meters behind Milpitas," said Townsend. "But with 100 meters to go, she started to take off."

Jones' 58.4 split helped the Cats run a 4:04.80 for the win in the event. Ali Dodson (62.7), Ali Rubnitz (62.9) and Sally Stanton (60.23) were other members of the winning relay team.

The Trojans were the No.1-ranked 4x400 relay team in CCS heading into the race, and Jones went head-up against Whitney Cole, who had already won the 400 earlier in the meet. But Jones outran Cole to the finish line to give the Wildcats the win.

Stanton had a big day at the qualifying meet for the Cats. The junior won the pole vault at 9-0 and finished fourth in the 300 hurdles in 46.20 to qualify for the CCS semifinals in two events.

Laney Chinn and She Dailor came through with personal bests at the qualifier to place high enough to advance to CCS. Chinn soared 5-4 in the high jump for second place and Dailor topped her season best by 5-0 with a 95-8 in the discus for fourth.

Dodson was third in the 400 in 60.58 with Carolyn Penner fourth in 60.75 and she was fourth in the 200 in 26.63.

"Ali ran her best time of the season in the 200 to qualify on," said Townsend. "She's looking better every week as she comes back from injury and illness this season."

Michelle Johnson was fourth in the high jump at 5-0 and Monica Rude was fifth in the 100 hurdles in 17.50.

"Rude ran a huge PR in the 100 hurdles to move on to CCS," said Townsend, adding that only the top five SCVAL placers advance to the section semifinals set for May 24 (10 a.m. field events, 11 a.m. running events) at San Jose City College.

Ashley Benson was sixth in the 800 in 2:29.22, Carolyn Stege was sixth in the 400 in 61.50 and Karen Rossmassler was sixth in the high jump at 4-10. The relay team of Cheryl Parkman, Dodson, Stanton and Rude ran sixth in the 4x100 relay in 51.19.

The Gatos girls were coming off of a championship showing at the SCVAL De Anza Division finals. The Cats ran up 94 points to Palo Alto's 89 to clinch the team title.

Los Gatos didn't need to win the title at the meet to take the league championship, but the Cats would have it no other way.

"My varsity girls went undefeated (6-0) in dual meet competition, so we would have had to finish third at the finals to tie for the championship," said Townsend. "However, my girls and I don't like to lose."

Jones won the 800 with Rubnitz fourth and Benson fifth, and Penner took the 400 with Dodson third and Stege fourth. Jones was also third in the 1,600 with Erica Williams fifth.

Stanton ran second in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 100 hurdles.

Johnson was second in the high jump with Chinn third and Rossmassler sixth.

Ariana Nicewonger was fourth in the 3,200, Dailor was fourth in the discus, Parkman was sixth in the 100 and Jodi Christiansen was sixth in the triple jump.

Nik Kay starred the same day in the boys' meet, winning the shot put and discus to lead the Wildcats to a team fifth.

Kay heaved the shot put 51-5 for a division title and he threw the discus 194-5 to finish first.

Chad Blanchard was another Gatos winner, taking the 800 in 2:00.04.