Photograph by Robert Scheer
Los Gatos distance star Peter Carter was an individual winner and earned a place on the school's all-time cross-country list with a superb effort at a Los Gatos invitational meet on Saturday.
By Dick Sparrer
Many outstanding runners have traveled the trails for Los Gatos cross-country teams through the years-- state placers, Northern California and Central Coast Section champions and countless all-leaguers. And now Lina Biber-Ferro and Peter Carter have joined that prestigious list.
The two ran well enough at a Los Gatos invitational meet last weekend to earn places on the school's all-time lists.
Carter clocked in at 13:28.9 to finish first overall for the Wildcats in a four-way meet with Mitty, Valley Christian and Leigh. His time qualified for a place on the Los Gatos all-time list.
Biber-Ferro was actually one of three Gatos girls to join the all-time list. She led the Wildcats to a team victory against Mitty, Presentation, Leigh and Valley Christian, finishing second overall in 16:30.
Jeanne Fishback ended up fourth in 16:41, and Amy LaPine was fifth in 16:42. Their times were also good for all-time ranking.
Biber-Ferro's effort ranks fourth on the Gatos charts.
"What a way to start the season," Los Gatos coach Willie Harmatz said of Biber-Ferro's performance. "She looked strong, and her form was better than ever--16:30 is just fantastic."
The junior distance star helped Gatos run up a low 34 points to win the team title in the meet. Presentation and Mitty shared second with 43 points each, and Leigh was a distant third at 120.
Fishback's effort leaves her 11th on the LG all-time list, and LaPine ranks 12th.
"Mitty and Presentation have good, solid teams," Harmatz said. "They placed in CCS last year. They pushed our top three girls to very good times, which I was very happy about."
Sara High ended up 12th in 17:50 with Andie Knudsen 16th in 18:15, Laura Sund 17th in 18:26, Krista Ellsworth 19th in 18:42 and Carol Chen 20th in 18:43.
Carter starred for the Gatos boys, winning the race by running nearly a minute faster than his nearest rival.
"This was an excellent early season time," Gatos coach Steve Barth said of Carter's 13:28.9.
Ben Martin finished third in 14:32.4 with Pat Sullivan fourth in 14:36.1, David Landers 11th in 15:08.4 and Ryan Smith 13th in 15:10.2.
Mitty won the meet with 29 points, with Gatos second at 32 and Valley Christian third at 69.
"There's not much I can say about us as a team since we were missing so many people," Barth said, indicating that Joseph Carter, Jedd Martin and Jeff Ouellette did not compete for the Cats. "The people who did run from the varsity group did awesome."
Nick Wilson, Brian Parker and Greg Parker finished two-three-four overall to lead Los Gatos to a team title in the junior varsity division. George Halldin was seventh overall for the Cats in the division, and Joe Cintas was eighth.
Jordan Stuhlmueller led the Gatos sophomore boys to a team second by finishing fourth overall in 15:15.2. David Hembry was seventh, with Kyle Stavis eighth, Zack Knipe ninth and Steven Todd 10th.
Phil Smith was the freshman winner in 15:22.7 to lead Gatos to a team second just behind Mitty. The Monarchs finished with 27 points to 28 for the Wildcats.
Zack Regner was second for Los Gatos, with Caleb Hayashi sixth, Jon Edwards ninth and Tim Odell 10th.
In girls' junior varsity action, Mitty finished first with 35 points. Los Gatos (66) ran second with Presentation (74) third.
Jenny Uhrowczik finished second overall in 18:48 to lead the Los Gatos effort. Elizabeth Espe was 13th in 20:42, with Sarah Hildgen 15th in 21:13 and Kristin Hoeft 16th in 21:28.
The Los Gatos teams will compete in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Invitational at Central Park on Sept. 24, 3 p.m., before taking part in the Blossom Valley Invitational on Sept. 28 at Santa Teresa Park.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, September 25, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved