Dodson raced around the single-lap distance in 57.78 to win the event with Stege a close second in 58.76 as the Cats finished one-two in the event. The Gatos duo outsprinted Brieanna Wright of Scotts Valley to the finish line. Wright was third in 59.43.

Dodson finished just over two seconds off of the meet record of 55.68 set by Maggie Vessey of Soquel in the 2000 season.

The Gatos girls topped a list of 22 Los Gatos placers in 15 events at the rugged CCS Top-8 meet that featured the finest runners, jumpers and throwers in the section in the girls and boys varsity and boys frosh-soph divisions.

Sophomore Chris Little joined Dodson on the victory stand in the meet. Little soared 15-3 to win the boys frosh-soph pole vault in the meet.

Michelle Johnson added a third-place finish and Sally Stanton and Monica Rude each placed in a pair of events for the Los Gatos girls on Friday night.

Johnson flew to a third in the high jump at 5-6, finishing just a couple of inches off the winning mark of 5-8 posted by Amber Kaufman of Branham. Leah Parson of Notre Dame­Salinas also jumped 5-6, but finished second on fewer misses.

Stanton finished fourth in a tough field in the pole vault, despite posting the same 11-6 mark recorded by winner Stevie Odle of Del Mar. Taylor Franklin of St. Francis was second and Carly Rayburn was third. All four of the top finishers cleared 11-6, but misses separated the placers.

Rude ran eighth in the 300-meter hurdles in 47.99 with Stanton 13th in 52.61, and Rude was also 11th in the 100 hurdles in 17.28.

Cheryl Parkman finished eighth in the 100-meter dash in 12.97 and she was a member of the 4x100 relay team that ran fourth in 49.87. St. Francis was third in the same time, just edging the Cats at the finish line.

Shea Dailor whirled the discus 95-10 to finish 10th, and Ashley Benson was 10th in the 800 meters in 2:24.06 with Samantha Peppard 13th in 2:25.31 and Marlana Shile 14th in 2:25.47. Jill Goodwin added a 12th in the 1,600 meters in 5:34.56.

Chad Blanchard's seventh in the 800 was the best finish of the night for the Los Gatos boys varsity team. Blanchard was seventh in the two-lapper in 1:57.31 with teammates Sean Bardes 14th in 2:04.07 and Tyler DeSantis 17th in 2:11.18.

Liam Smith pitched the shot put 46-1 to nail ninth with Danny Starick 10th at 45-7 and Devon Lopez 11th at 43-5, and Greg Geldman was 10th in the 1,600 in 4:34.08 with Nathan Young 14th in 4:37.70.

The Gatos boys ran seventh in the 4x100 relay in 44.40.

Randall Horn supported Little's showing in the boys frosh-soph division by picking up a second to go with Little's first. Horn was second in the discus with a toss of 124-9.

Seth Smart was sixth in the 1,600 meters in 4:38.31 with teammate Matthew Petrillo 12th in 4:50.16, and Jon Berthet was seventh in the 800 with Petrillo 13th in 2:13.20.

Arcadia Invitational

The Gatos girls turned in a solid showing at the Arcadia Invitational in Southern California with

"What a great meet for our small group of girls heading into their final month of the season," said Los Gatos coach Monica Townsend.

Johnson was fifth in the high jump at 5-3 and Stanton was sixth in the pole vault at 11-7.

Stege, Peppard, Stanton and Dodson ran a blistering 3:59.3 to finish sixth in the 4x400 relay. Dodson finished up with a 56.1 split in the anchor leg.

"We capped off a great meet showing with a CCS-leading 4x 00 relay effort, taking sixth in a deep field of teams," said Townsend.

Goodwin, Stege, Shile and Peppard teamed to finish ninth overall in a top field in the 4x800 relay. Ashley Harris, Goodwin, Jacqui Kemp and Ariana Nicewonger turned in a solid effort in the 4xmile relay.

Dodson won her heat in the 400 meters in a personal best 57.11 and she also ran a personal best 25.37 in the 200. She teamed with Parkman, Stanton and Jamie Erickson to run a 50.01 in the 4x100 for second in their heat.

Boys win at Stanford

The Los Gatos boys 4x800 relay team had romped to an individual victory earlier this season at the Stanford Invitational.

Blanchard, Young, Bardes and Smart combined to run 8:14.52 to finish first in the field of 28 teams.

"These guys ran great and I'm really proud of them," said Los Gatos coach Tom Newman.

A night earlier the same quartet had finished 16th in the distance medley relay.

Little was fifth in the pole vault at 14-0 and other top marks were recorded by Geldman in the 3,000 meters (9:09.61) and Chris Parides in the long jump (19-6.25).