He's not smiling because the season has ended, though, he's smiling because of the way the season ended—and because of the bright future he sees for the cross country program at the school.

The Rams completed an outstanding 2004 season—winning the championship in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, finishing second in the Central Coast Section Division III finals and finishing eighth in the rugged state meet.

And they did it all with a freshman and a sophomore leading the pack.

Freshman Mohamed Abdalla and soph Marcos Corona each finished in the top 25 in the state Division III meet after running the top 10 at CCS and finishing one-two in the league meet.

"The boys were truly proud of their efforts, and are thrilled about their top-10 finish at state," said Santamaria. "Last year they were seventh in CCS; this year they are eighth in California."

"Their improvement in one short year was huge," he added, "and it came from a group of runners that have truly dedicated themselves to Willow Glen cross country, to each other and to the pursuit of excellence.

"These guys will certainly never forget this state meet experience."

Corona won the league meet with Abdalla second, then it was Abdalla fourth at CCS with Corona sixth. At state, Abdalla raced to a 17th-place finish in 16:03.

"This mark was not only the fastest freshman mark in the entire state meet, it was also the fastest mark for all of the Division 3 runners from CCS," said Santamaria of Abdalla's effort.

Corona was 22nd in the state meet in 16:06, "making him the second top finisher among CCS Division 3 runners," said the coach. "So Abdalla and Corona were the top two finishers from CCS Division 3."

Junior Ruben Camacho, Robert Ramos and Justin McArthur were the next three Willow Glen finishers, sophomore Samson Galato and senior Jose Cervantes close behind.

"The young Rams definitely came together well at the state meet and held up strong in this highly competitive field of 23 teams," said Santamaria.

Girls volleyball

Junior Angela Pizella sparked to the Willow Glen girls volleyball team to a sensational season in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League this year, and it didn't go unnoticed by the league's coaches.

Pizella was selected as the division's Junior of the Year by the coaches when they got together to pick their all-league team for 2004. The Rams ended the season in third place in the division at 8-4. Overfelt posted an 11-1 record to win the league title and Andrew Hill was second at 9-3.

Senior outside hitter Jenna Morrow and junior middle blocker Emily Roberts were Rams named to the all-league first team, and senior outside hitter Megan Finkle won all-league second team honors.

The Rams finished the 2004 season 16-17 overall.

Boys water polo

The future looks bright for the boys water polo team at Willow Glen. Not only did the Rams finish second to Lincoln in the BVAL's Santa Teresa Division, but all five of the Willow Glen players winning post-season honors will return to the pool next fall.

Scott London topped the list of Willow Glen players named to the all-league list for the year. London was named the Santa Teresa Division's Junior of the Year.

Junior goalkeeper Jason Tom and sophomore Sam Okun were picked to the all-league first team and sophomore Reese Rotscert and freshman Charlie Kane were named to the all-league second team.