A year ago, Cathedral Catholic High School captured the state Division 3 girls cross country championship.

The Dons first alternate was Jocelyn Gibson.

Another way of looking at it, she was the first girl left out when the team straddled the starting line.

“It was frustrating because it was super close,” said Gibson. “That motivated me to get better, but when I really felt like I was improving like I wanted to during last track season was when my times in the mile came down — a lot.”

Heading into her senior season, Gibson vowed that shed be among the top seven runners on the Dons roster. Gibson is indeed among the Dons top seven. In fact, shes No. 1 heading into Saturdays CIF San Diego Section championships at Balboa Park.

“We lost two of our top three runners to graduation (Alexandria Pena and Scarlett Martin),” said Dons coach Dan Geiger of the defending section and state champions. “But we did inherit a runner from two years ago, Chiara Bonomi, and Gibson improved in leaps and bounds.

“With Gibson improving as much as she did, it’s like we didn’t lose one of those two from last year. I like our chances of getting to state, but in cross country, you just never know.

“At this time last year, we started to peak at just the right time. We won the section and were still getting better at state, so I knew we had a chance. But you never count on anything beforehand.”

Geiger didn’t even count on his own numbers last year, even though he’s a math teacher. The longtime coach waited until he had the official results in hand before telling the girls, who went crazy celebrating.

Just two years ago, Cathedral Catholic was ranked No. 1 in Division 3 when illness hit the team before the section meet and decimated the Dons, who finished second.

“It’s all timing and luck,” said Geiger. “You have to avoid illness and injury. And you have to be confident going into the meet. Last year we ran well at league and section heading into the state meet. And we were healthy.

We’ll see how we do against teams like Point Loma and Sage Creek this week but the division is so strong, we could send four teams to state, which is good.”

That’s because one of the things he fears — a freak injury — hit the team during a practice run last week.

Junior Lindsey Zimmer, the top returnee after finishing fourth overall at the state meet a year ago, tripped over an exposed tree root and went down, injuring her knee. The Dons placed second in the Western League Meet to Scripps Ranch. However, Scripps Ranch will compete in Division 3 for the section and state meets.

Zimmer is out for the remainder of the season.

“I still think it’ll be between us and South Pasadena,” said Geiger of the state meet. “We’ve had a great competition between our seventh and eighth runners this year, but we would have had a lot better chance if Lindsay could run.”

Three weeks ago, Cathedral Catholic and South Pasadena squared off at the Mt. SAC Invitational Division 3-4-5 Team Sweepstakes.

South Pasadena won by one point. However, when the Division 4 and 5 runners were taken out, the Dons and Tigers finished in a tie, and the Dons’ No. 6 runner beat the Tigers’ No. 6 to break the tie.

Do that at state, and Cathedral Catholic will defend its title.

“This year’s team has really emerged with runners like Liesel Sellerberg and Gibson making big improvements, and everyone else has been solid,” Geiger said. “Every team has someone sick or injured this time of year.

“A year ago, we had a good plan and the girls executed it. We didn’t want to go out too fast, so at the mile we were behind by 100 points. By the 2-mile it was down to 20 and we won by 11 points.”

Kristine Bickler, Patsy Hellman and Callie Schulteis round out the top seven with Eva Smith where Gibson was a year ago. However, Smith will run at section and state.

Geiger says he’s guardedly optimistic about the team’s chances at state but is anxious to see how the team accepts the challenge in the section meet. The Dons won it a year ago, with University City finishing a distinct second.

“Winning the section meet is still our immediate goal,” said Geiger. “We want to win it every year, and we expect to be pushed.”

Gibson, one of the team captains, says the team aspect is why she prefers cross country to track.

“I’m excited for this year’s team because we’ve worked so hard,” said the 17-year-old. “I enjoy being the captain because I can help the other runners do better. We lost two good seniors, but we didn’t let that stop us from being a good team.

“Now, we have a chance to do well again here and at state.”