The Los Gatos boys track and field team raced to the team title at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division finals last week, and the Wildcats did with just one senior contributing to the outcome.

"The varsity is a very young team," said Gatos coach Thomas Newman. "We had one senior, seven juniors, four sophomores and four freshman at the league finals--this team is going to be around for the next few years."

Senior Sean Bardes came through with a second in the 800 meters with a personal best 2:02.97--one of many PRs for the Wildcats at the meet.

"We had a lot of personal best performances at the league trials and league finals," said Newman. And most of them were posted by underclassmen.

Sophomore Randall Horn won the discus with a personal best 141-10 with junior Rene Stephan fourth with a PR 129-7. Freshman Colin Quirke was third in the shot put with a personal best 45-6.25 with Horn sixth at 42-8.

Bardes led a 2-3-4 finish in the 800 meters with all three Wildcats posting PRs. Bardes was second in 2:02.97 with sophomore Jon Berthet third in 2:03.98 and freshman Dane Sawyer fourth in 2:04.21.

Junior Seth Smart was third in the 1,600 in a personal best 4:32.35 with soph Jimmy Jatho seventh in 4:38.79, also a PR. Smart added a second in the 3,200 in 9:57.11 with sophomore Matthew Petrillo third in 9:57.28.

Bardes also teamed with Berthet, Jatho and junior Don Gaspar to nail third in the 4x400 relay in a season best 3:31.33.

Gaspar joined Horn as an individual champion for the Cats with a win in the 400 meters in 50.03. He was also second in the 200 in 22.74. Junior Chase Kinser was seventh in the 200 in 23.75 and sixth in the 100 in 11.62. Kinser also teamed with juniors Mike Kendra, A.J. Comeau and James Ashton for a fourth in the 4x100 relay in a season best 44.91.

Freshman Kevin Rutledge had a big day at the finals, soaring to a second in the high jump at 6-0 and a fifth in the triple jump at 41-3.

"The other coaches and me are very proud of all the hard work and focus the kids put into this season," said Los Gatos coach Thomas Newman. "All of the coaches are really excited for the rest of this season and the future of this team."

The immediate future for the Wildcats means the SCVAL qualifying meet set for May 14 at Los Gatos. Top finishers there will advance to the Central Coast Section meet.

Andrew Scales, Rye Livingston and Bobby Shawhan each finished second to lead the Los Gatos boys to a third-place finish in the junior varsity finals.

Scales was second in the high jump at 5-2 with Michael Scales third at 5-0, Livingston was second in the 800 in 2:11.40 and Shawhan was second in the 1,600 in 4:45.42. Shawhan was also third in the 3,200.