But then, what else is knew—it's been that way most of the year for the C.T. English eighth grader. And the competitors he's been racing the hardest against have been his teammates, Rye Livingston and Michael Johnson.

It was more of the same at the county finals. Sawyer raced to a win in the mile with Livingston and Johnson hot on his heels, and he was also second in the 800 meters with Livingston and Johnson close behind again.

As it turns out, the three—along with weightman Colin Quirke—led English to the county title. The Los Gatos mountainmen ran up 58 points to outrun Union (56.5) and Hyde (56) to the championship in the 19-team meet.

Sawyer ran 5:01.17 to finish first in the mile. Livingston was a close second in 5:01.31 and Johnson was fourth in 5:08.87.

Sawyer was also second in the 800 in 2:15.60 with Livingston third in 2:16.18 and Johnson fourth in 2:18.0.

Quirke supported the effort for English by finishing second in both the shot put at 46-3 and the discus at 119-7.

The Fisher Middle School girls was also impressive at the county finals, finishing second in both the eighth grade and sixth grade division. The Fisher seventh grade boys were fifth.

Loretta Lewis won the high jump for the Fisher sixth grade girls and the eighth grade girls ran to a win in the 4x400 relay with Kayla Townsend running a quick 63.4 split.

In the boys eighth grade class, Kevin Rutledge finished first in the high jump, long jump and triple jump for Fisher.

Union athletes finishing first at the county meet included Jessica Molina, seventh grade girls 400; Drew Gordan, eighth grade boys discus; Erik Peidad, seventh grade boys triple jump; Scott Hunter, sixth grade boys 400; and Jiwoong Bauk, sixth grade boys triple jump.

"It was the first time I put this meet on, and it was tough, but a big success," said veteran track coach and meet director Willie Harmatz of Los Gatos. "Our area did fantastic, especially those C.T. English eighth grade boys. Our area middle schools have a lot of talent, and they sure showed it in this meet."

Earlier, at the league championships, the Fisher eighth grade girls made it a clean sweep—winning a third straight league title. This group won league championships as sixth graders, seventh graders and now eighth graders. They also won three straight titles in cross country.

Fisher ran up 81 points to win the crown, edging Ida Price and Rogers who tied for second with 80 points apiece.

Townsend won the 1,600 meters in 5:24.9, setting a new league meet record in the process, and she also took the 800 meters.

Sarah Williams was third in the 800 in 2:38.9 and finished fourth in the 1,600 in 5:52.9.

Christine Reed was a triple winner for Fisher, taking the 60-meter hurdles in 12.4 and the 100-yard dash in 12.3, and running a leg on the winning 4x100 relay team.

Sarah Chatoff was second in the discus with Shannon Garner third, and Christine Scales was third in the shot put.

Rutledge was first in the long jump at 17-4.5 and tops in the high jump at 5-8, and he was fourth in the 100 in 11.7 for the Fisher eighth grade boys. Max Micali threw 109-1 to finish third in the discus.

C.T. English was fourth in the league meet. Quirke was second in the shot put with Livingston second, Sawyer third and Johnson fourth in both the 800 and 1,600.

Jack Penner was second in the 800 in 2:24 in the boys seventh grade division and he helped Fisher's 4x100 relay to a third-place finish.

Lewis won the high jump at 4-2 and was third in both the long jump and the hurdles to lead the Fisher sixth grade girls. She also helped Fisher to a win in the 4x100 relay.

Mariah Hemminger won the 100-yard dash and Kathleen Guzman was third in both the 800 and 1,600.