After Bellarmine's 4x100-meter relay team posted the second-best boys time in the state this year Saturday at the Stanford Invitational -- placing first against a strong field -- it began looking down the road.

Specifically, the Bells began discussing their chances of winning a state championship.

``Southern California always dominates,'' said Bellarmine's Chris Boykin, who ran the second leg on Saturday. ``We know we have the talent. It's just putting it all together. Our next goal is to take it all the way.

``We wanted to show these teams that normally don't look out for us that we are a contending team.''

The Bells proved that on Saturday, beating a field that included five teams with times among the state's top 25, including Bishop O'Dowd, McClymonds and Logan. Bellarmine's Jared Belser (third in the CCS in the 100) gave Bellarmine a lead on the first leg. Boykin and Donnelly (fourth and second in the 200, respectively) maintained Bellarmine's lead, leaving anchor Shannon Sevor to cruise for the victory.

Riordan, the Bells' rival in the West Catholic Athletic League, finished third.

``We don't have a pure anchor guy, like some of these teams do, but we have four solid sprinters,'' Bellarmine Coach Terry Ward said.

The Bells realize there is a long road ahead before the state meet May 31 and June 1 in Norwalk, including the WCAL and Central Coast Section finals. No team from the CCS has won a state meet since 1968, but Bellarmine's time of 42.25 seconds -- .01 behind state leader Dominguez of Compton -- makes it a front-runner. (The winning time at last year's state meet was 41.17).

``They wanted to establish they were the best in Northern California,'' Ward said. ``They've been doing it in dual meets all year, but they wanted to prove they could do it.

``It's nice to go to a meet with a lot of competition and really do well.''

But the Bells also realize they can't begin making room for a CCS trophy in their showcase, not after their baton drop at the CCS finals last year. The Bells, running neck and neck with eventual champion Leigh, had a bad pass on the exchange from the third leg to the anchor.

Bellarmine was disqualified, erasing any chance to gain experience at the state meet.

``We've all been working hard and we want to redeem ourselves,'' said Ryan Donnelly, who ran the third leg at the CCS meet. ``We're definitely working a lot harder. We don't want that to happen again.''

There were solid performances by some of the section's leading athletes at the two-day meet, which began Friday.

In Saturday's mile, Los Gatos' Ashley Caldwell and Gunn's Ruth Graham finished first and second, respectively. Graham, the defending CCS champion in the 3,200, led for 2 1/2 laps before Caldwell surged past her in the final 150 meters.

Caldwell, who finished second at the CCS finals in the 800 behind Sacred Heart Cathedral's Shannon Rowbury, owns the section's best time in the 800 (2:11.84) and is second in the 400 (59.44).

The CCS swept the 3,000 meters Friday, as Rowbury won in 9:38.41 and Aptos' Brett Gotcher, the defending CCS champion in the 3,200, won in 8:28.26.