The Mountain View boys cross-country team won the Division II team race at the 60th annual Mt. San Antonio College Invitational on Saturday.
Sophomore Garrett Rowe won the Division II individual competition with a time of 15 minutes, 42 seconds, on the 2.91-mile course, beating second-place finisher Chris Frias of Buena High School (Ventura) by 31 seconds.
Another Spartans sophomore, Ian Myjer (15:58), finished fifth, and freshman Parker Schuh was 19th with a time of 16:33. Schuh is ranked among the top 10 freshmen in California.
The boys team, which entered the week ranked fourth in the Mercury News top 15, beat No. 2 Los Gatos and No. 3 Carlmont.
The Spartan girls finished second in the Division II team race, led by juniors Alexandra Westbrook (fifth, 19:08) and Kristine Talbot (ninth, 19:18).
VOLLEYBALL Harker School won the Menlo Invitational on Saturday, going 5-0 in the six-team round-robin format.
The Eagles, ranked seventh in the Mercury News Top 15, improved to 30-3 with victories over Westmont, Woodside, Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo School and No. 5 San Benito.
Ernie Lee knew he had a gifted runner coming to Gunn High School in Jackie Evans, but the cross-country coach felt a cautious approach would be best for the freshman.
The method is working well as Evans has emerged as one of the Central Coast Section's top young talents.
Tuesday, Evans helped lead the Titans to the Palo Alto City Championships by winning the race with a time of 12 minutes, 34 seconds on the 2.18-mile Bol Park course. It was the fourth best time ever run on the course.
"She has a lot of experience running in age group competitions, so we knew coming in she was very talented," Lee said. "But since she is a freshman we wanted to go low-key. We haven't been to a lot of big races, we just want to get her adjusted to high school, bond with her teammates and have fun."
Evans is also an accomplished basketball player. Her older sister Jasmine was the co-MVP of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's De Anza division last year.
"She is very fast at shorter distances, and she has transitioned well to longer races in high school," Lee said. "She is running even better than I expected."
The Titans have an up-and-coming young team with another freshman Emma Dohner improving every day. Junior Allegra Mayer is back after a third place finish in the Central Coast Section Division II race last year.
"We're in the mix and hoping for a top three CCS finish to get a chance to run at the State meet again this year," Lee said.