Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatos distance star Jeanne Fishback races to a third in the 1600 meters at the CCS finals.

Chavez makes history

Chavez, Fishback off to state meet

By Dick Sparrer

Stephanie Chavez may not have realized it, but she's part of history.

The Los Gatos speedster joined an historic list when she breezed to a championship in the 800 meters at the Central Coast Section track and field finals last week.

Chavez became the seventh Los Gatos runner to win the 800 at the CCS finals, becoming part of a tradition born in 1944 when Bob Chambers ran to a victory in the then-880 for the Wildcats.

Chambers was a CCS champion in '44, when only the boys competed, and he went on to place fifth in the event in Olympic competition.

There was a 36-year drought before Los Gatos would win again in the 800, but the Wildcats have made up for lost time over the past two decades.

Scott Oliver raced to an 800 victory at CCS in 1980, and John Mann won it in 1981. Meg Veeder and Nick Green were both CCS champions in 1991, and Lina Biber-Ferro won the event a year ago. Chavez made it seven Gatos champs in the 800 with her victory last week.

"That's the most CCS champions we've ever had in any one event," said Los Gatos coach Willie Harmatz.

Chavez, Biber-Ferro and Amy LaPine each qualified for the CCS finals in the 800, and Chavez led a very fast field to the finish line.

"She took the lead early, set the pace and pulled everybody along," said Harmatz.

Chavez won the event in 2:12.2, her second best time of the year. Biber-Ferro was fifth in 2:16.7 with LaPine sixth in 2:19.0.

"That was Lina's best time this year, and it was a big PR for Amy," said Harmatz. "It's just that everybody ran fast."

The three ran up 13 points in the event for Los Gatos to help the Wildcats to a team eighth in the meet. Gatos was the only team to qualify three athletes for the CCS finals in any single event.

Chavez had run 2:16.9 to win her heat in the semifinals, with Biber-Ferro third in 2:19.9 and LaPine fourth in 2:21.2.

Chavez isn't finished yet. She'll move on to the state meet June 6-7 in Sacramento to compete for another title.

"She's seeded third in the state, and she had the third best time in the nation," Harmatz said of Chavez, who ran 2:10.9 in Arcadia early in the year. "She's the No. 1 senior in the nation."

"We feel real good about next week," added Harmatz. "I think she's stronger now than she was in Aracadia. She just ran by herself at CCS."

Chavez qualified for the state meet two years ago in the 100 and 200, but switched from the sprints to the 800 this season.

"The best move she ever made was moving up to the 800," said Harmatz of Chavez, who has just accepted a track scholarship to Tulane.

And she's not alone. A number of Wildcats have moved from the sprints to the 800 and are experiencing great success at the collegiate level.

Kim Hay, a CCS champ in the 100 and 200 for the Cats in 1994, ran 2:11.0 to place in the conference meet for Duke this spring, and Ally Lombardi, who ran the 200 and 400 for the Cats last year, ran 2:10.5 at UC-Berkeley as a freshman this year. She missed making the Pac-10 finals by one place.

Tom Newman, who was third in the 800 at CCS for Gatos a year ago, ran 1:52.6 in the event at the University of Oregon this season.

And the tradition lives on.

Fishback qualifies

Chavez won't make the trip to the state meet alone this weekend--senior Jeanne Fishback saw to that. Fishback was impressive in the CCS semifinals and finals, earning a berth in the state meet for the first time.

Fishback finished third in the 1600 meters in 5:12.7 to win a trip to state.

"It was a slow pace, but she took off with 300 to go," Harmatz said of Fishback. "She had the lead in the last turn, but two girls passed her in the last 40 yards."

Still, Harmatz was impressed with Fishback's performance.

"Making the state meet was a great accomplishment," said the coach.

Fishback had run 5:10.85 to win her heat in the CCS semifinals. Her previous best in the event was 5:17.

"That was a big jump," said Harmatz, who indicated that Fishback moved to No. 4 on the Los Gatos all-time list in the event.

Fishback came back to finish sixth with a lifetime best 11:31.4 in the 3200 meters to qualify for the CCS finals. Her time was good for sixth on the LG all-time list. She came back to finish eighth in the finals in 11:38.

Sarah High finished 13th in 11:59.8, but only the top 12 advanced to the CCS finals.

"She had a great season," Harmatz said of High, who ran a season best 11:55.0 at the CCS Top 8 meet earlier this year.

The Los Gatos quartet of Biber-Ferro, Karisse Leis, LaPine and Chavez won the 1600-meter relay in 3:56.57 at the semis, but finished a disappointing fourth at the finals to miss the state cut.

The four had impressive splits in the semis. Biber-Ferro ran 59.9, Leis (just a freshman) went 61.4, LaPine ran a lifetime best 58.8 and Chavez anchored in 56.1 to lead the Cats to a time good for sixth on the all-time list.

Chavez ran a 55.2 split in the finals, but it wasn't enough to get Gatos to state.

"She got the baton in sixth place," said Harmatz. "She passed up two teams, but she just had too much to make up."

Carter back at CCS

The Los Gatos boys had just three athletes in the CCS semis, but none advanced to the finals. Still, just reaching the semifinals was quite an accomplishment for at least one of the Cats.

Senior Peter Carter battled back from a pair of tough injuries this season to finish the year earning a spot in CCS. It marked his fourth trip to the section meet.

"We're really proud of him," said Harmatz. "We're really happy he made it to CCS in all of his four years here."

Early in the year, it appeared that he'd have no trouble returning to the CCS meet. Carter ran 4:19.8 halfway through the year and ranked among the CCS leaders in the 1600.

But he suffered an Achilles injury, and no sooner did that heal than he battled with a hip problem.

He still managed to run 4:33 in the CCS semifinals to make a little Los Gatos history.

Mike Pugh finished the season by throwing 135-0 in the discus, but he failed to move on to the finals.

McGowan stars

Guy McGowan single-handedly led the Leigh boys to an eight-place finish in the CCS team standings with an outstanding individual performance in the hurdle events.

McGowan raced to a first-place finish in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 38.34, and he backed that up with a second in the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.1.

McGowan was just a little faster in the CCS semifinals, but the results were the same. He was first in the 300 intermediates in 38.30 and second in the 110 highs in 13.92.

The Leigh speedster will now move on to the state meet this weekend in Sacramento.

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