GHS cross country girls out for fourth straight league title;
boys want to ‘show off’
When Art Silva announced to his cross country team at practice Monday that he was going to show them a new drill, a collective ‘oh, man’ rang out from the runners.
It was more of a comical exchange than anything else because the kids are fully aware the early-season training will help catapult them through a grueling schedule.
“Our philosophy is different than other coaches,” said Silva, who heads up the program with wife Cathy Silva. “The other coaches work all summer long with their kids. They come in and they run their best times their first couple of meets and then they just stick.”
It’s a gradual process for the Mustangs – building strength and stamina to last an entire season is the name of the game. So when the post season rolls around, the Mustangs are at their best.
“Some of them are ahead of us right now, but we will see where we are at at the end of the year,” Art Silva said.
Boys Team
Tim Williams’ prep career has flown by.
“I remember freshman year,” Williams said. “It does go by fast.”
Now a senior, Williams and the rest of the boys team want to recapture its late-season success a year ago and build on a second-place showing at the league
championships.
“We return a lot of guys from last year,” Williams said. “We are just trying to grow on last year and keep doing some of the same stuff.”
The boys’ side features 22 runners and a laundry list of potential.
“They really want to show off this year,” Art Silva said. “We probably have 10 kids that can run varsity.”
Along with Williams, juniors Kyle Collett, Raul Cobarrubias, Humberto Gaeta and Ryan Swenor and sophomore Enrique Villanueva, figure in as the main components.
“It’s kids like Ryan that keep us coming back coaching cross country,” Art Silva said. “This year, a lot of the kids are looking up to him because they know how hard he works at practice.
“For Kyle and Tim they want to reach (15 minutes).”
Williams said hitting the 15-minute mark in the 3-mile race is a realistic goal. So far his personal best is 16:21.
“We are running on two of the fastest courses this year, so hopefully I can get it done on one of those,” Williams said.
Girls Team
Led by a trio of juniors – two of which participated in the CIF State Championships as sophomores in 2009 – a youthful girls team heads into the 2010 campaign gunning for a fourth straight Tri-County Athletic League title.
As is the case at the beginning of each season there are always unknowns that can’t be answered right away. Fortunately, there are also certainties on which to fall back.
For GHS, 11 newcomers create a few questions. However, with juniors Athena Alarcon, Maritza Ruelas and Savannah Silacci anchoring the 15-girl roster, the Mustangs have a core to rally around.
“We are always young,” Art Silva said. “We have three of the top girls in CCS. But then, we don’t know what we have because we really haven’t run. We only have four girls returning from last year.”
Freshman Wendy Valdez, junior Jessica Arciga and sophomore Noemi Rivera, are options to fill the four open spots on varsity, Art Silva added.
“(Noemi) really improved in track and she is working as hard as you can ask a kid,” he said.
Also expected to make an impact this season is the team’s lone senior and team captain, Maricela Olmos, who returns to the team after missing her junior season.
“She just sort of took hold of the junior varsity,” Art Silva said. “It’s great having a kid like that around. She is phenomenal with the girls. She is still getting in shape and has a good chance at moving up.”
The cross country team will participate in the Chieftain Classic in Salinas on Saturday giving the Silvas another look at their squads before entering league meets.
