Los Gatos Weekly-Times Historic day for Wildcats at the Mt. Sac Invitational By Dick Sparrer Los Gatos enjoys a rather illustrious past in cross country. So when veteran coach Willie Harmatz considers one of his team's performances among the best in school history ... well, it must have been some day for the Wildcats. And it sure was! The Cats finished second in the Division III Sweepstakes when they competed in the rugged Mt. Sac Invitational. Don Bosco High School was first with 76 points, and Gatos was second at 98 in the race for state-ranked teams. "This was one of the best days in Los Gatos cross country history," said Harmatz after his squad's second-place finish among the state's best. "We proved we can compete with anyone in the state." "We raised ourselves to the next level as a team," he added. Russ Martin led the Cats to the impressive finish by finishing sixth in 16:12 on the hilly, 3.1-mile course. Matt Bates was 11th in 16:22, with Jedd Martin 25th in 16:43, Jeff Hoeft 26th in 16:43 and Zack Regner 30th in 16:47. Not only did the Gatos boys perform well, but the Los Gatos girls ran to a team title in a regular Division III event. Amy LaPine was third in 20:47 to lead the Cats to the championship. Sarah McAleer was seventh in 21:07, with Marcia Wallis 12th in 21:27, Aly Chavez 31st in 22:32 and Lynsey Harris 34th in 22:37. Gatos ran up a low 81 points to finish well ahead of St. Francis of Sacramento, second at 143. "This was our best race of the season by far," said Harmatz of the Gatos girls. "Everyone ran as well as possible." LaPine ran especially well for the Wildcats. "This might have been the best cross country race of her career," said Harmatz. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 11, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.