Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatos distance star Amy LaPine gets a hug from her mother, Pam, after finishing second in a tough 800-meter final at the De Anza Division meet on Thursday night.

LaPine second in tough 800

Biber-Ferro, High among top Gatos placers at finals

By Dick Sparrer

It was a battle of two of the best in the Central Coast Section.

Colleen Wrenn of Palo Alto and Amy LaPine of Los Gatos are two of the top half-milers in the section. And they battled it out head-to-head when they met on the track at De Anza Community College in the track and field finals for the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Wrenn came out on top in the classic matchup, but not by much. The talented Paly runner finished first in the 800 meters in 2:21.2 with LaPine a very close second in 2:21.6.

"They were together with 50 yards to go," said Los Gatos girls' distance coach Willie Harmatz. "But Colleen opened it up in the last 20 yards."

LaPine's second was the best effort for the Wildcats at the finals. She was also sixth in the mile in 5:28.9 and she ran a leg on a Los Gatos mile relay team that finished sixth in 4:24.8.

Lina Biber-Ferro was close behind LaPine in the 800, finishing third in 2:27.2, and she was fifth in the mile in 5:26.5. She teamed with LaPine, Emily King and Kristen McClenathen to finish sixth in the mile relay.

Sarah High was another top Gatos placer at the league finals, running third in the two-mile in 11:52.9.

King was fifth in the long jump at 15-10 1/4, and she joined with Soe Segnitz, Dominique Schweighofer and Kathy Falkenhagen for a fifth in the 400-meter relay in 51.76.

Anie Farnady joined the list of Los Gatos placers in the meet with a sixth in the discus at 95-8.

The Wildcats had just two placers in the boys' varsity division at the league meet.

Russ Martin was a solid third in the two-mile in 9:55.1 and Ryan Smith was fifth in the high jump at 5-6.

The Gatos varsity placers now advance to the CCS North Section meet set for May 16, 1 p.m., on the Los Gatos track. Harmatz predicts that LaPine, Biber-Ferro, High and Martin will all advance to the CCS trials coming up May 23 at San Jose City College.

Los Gatos finished last in the division in both boys' and girls' varsity competition at the finals, the first time that has happened in decades. But the Wildcats have many talented youngsters on the track squad this spring, and that was evident in the boys' frosh-soph and girls' junior varsity divisions.

Los Gatos finished second to Gunn in the team standings in boys' frosh-soph competition at the finals.

Zach Regner and Eric Sturm led the Wildcats to the solid finish. Regner won three individual events and Sturm added a first and a third for the Cats.

Regner raced to wins in the two-mile in 10:13.3, the mile in 4:40.6 and the 800 meters in 2:03.6.

Sturm soared to a league title in the long jump at 19-1112. He also added third in the triple jump at 39-10 and the 100 meters in 11.7, and he helped the young Cats sprint to a first-place finish in the 400 meter relay in 46.51.

Stone Hsu, Jeff Hoeft and Matt Bates each nailed seconds for Los Gatos. Hsu was second in the triple jump at 40-4, Hoeft was second in the 800 in 2:03.9 and Bates was second in the two-mile in 10:18.7 and third in the 800 in 2:04.6.

Los Gatos was also second in the mile relay in 3:41.0.

Nick Skrabe pulled out a third in the shot put with a heave of 42-1112 with David Lowry fifth at 40-13, and Dan Hilliker was third in the discus with a toss of 113-212 with Jerry Yuhara fourth at 107-1.

Bill Stanton romped to a third in the mile in 4:53.3 and John Webb was third in the 200 meters in 25.3. Payam Mokhitari was fourth in the high jump at 5-4.

Sixths went to Seung Lee in both the 65-meter high hurdles in 10.80 and the 100 meters in 12.2, Ben Frazier in the long jump at 17-434 and Kevin Carney in the 400 meters in 56.1.

Andie Knudsen had a big day for the Los Gatos girls in the junior varsity division. She was third in both the mile in 5:49.8 and the 3,200 meters in 12:40. "Those were two big PRs for her," said Harmatz.

Allison Santana added a third in the discus for the Cats with a toss of 80-8.

Maya Stevens was fourth in the high jump at 4-4 and Rebecca Fong was fourth in the 400 meters in 65.5.

Fong, Knudsen, Jill Devine and Alice McKinley ran 4:40.2 to nail fourth in the mile relay. McKinley also ran a personal best 2:43 to finish seventh in the 800 meters.

The Wildcats were also fourth in the 400 relay in 56.33.

Erin Dudley ended up fifth in the 200 meters in 29.6 with Liz Pellegrin sixth in the mile in 5:56.8.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]