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Published on 12/14/1998 All articles from this issue

LAHS cross country celebrates season

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By Ken Kaye

Special to the Town Crier

The Los Altos High boys and girls cross country teams feasted at a special dinner recently to celebrate one of their most successful seasons ever and to honor team members and retiring head coach Margaret Bennett.

This year's team competed in 11 invitational meets, including overnight trips to Clovis and Mount San Antonio College.

The varsity girls finished in third place at the SCVAL De Anza Championships, while the junior varsity girls took second in its division.

The boys varsity and junior varsity teams both earned first place at the meet.

In addition, 12 team members earned all-league honors.

Two boys were individual De Anza Division champions: varsity member Andrew Hill and junior varsity runner Edgar Avila, a junior.

The varsity teams went on to the Central Coast Section championships, where the boys finished fourth and the girls came in ninth.

Team captain and senior Hill was the individual CCS Div. II champion, finishing the race in a fast 14 minutes, 52 seconds. The time put him on the record board for the Crystal Springs course.

At the dinner, Bennett and assistant coaches Tiffany Martinez, Kathy Johnson and Nick Lara, presented awards to members of the team for their various individual accomplishments and their contributions to the team's spirit and achievements.

After presenting the awards, Bennett announced next year's team captains, who were elected by team members.

Aaron Kaye and Ian Bailey will serve as captains of the boys teams, while Tasha Shapiro and Rebecca Burnham will lead the girls.

Announcing that this was her last season coaching the team, Bennett noted that when she inherited the squad nine years ago, she had three girls and 15 boys.

This season the team had more than 50 members, including 18 girls.

In her closing remarks, Bennett said, "Coaching has brought me countless friendships and memories, and taught me so much about personal strength and courage. I want to thank the members of this and all my teams for all of the memories and for the lessons that you have taught me."