Hollister – The track was awash in a sea of red Wednesday.
Everywhere you looked, there were San Benito athletes. In track and
field, there is strength in numbers. Thus, the Haybalers were very
strong.
Hollister – The track was awash in a sea of red Wednesday.
Everywhere you looked, there were San Benito athletes. In track and field, there is strength in numbers. Thus, the Haybalers were very strong.
They were strong enough to win the boys meet with Gilroy, 98-37. They were strong enough to win the girls meet by a surprisingly decisive 83-53 score. And yet it was far from a lost cause for the Mustangs.
Megan McAvoy overcame a “mental block” to establish a personal best in the high jump. The senior also took the long jump and was second in the triple jump to score a team-high 13 points in the meet.
Ariana Vera was dominant in the sprints, winning the 100 and 200. Elise Ogle continued to run consistently well in the distance events, and Sarah Unadia won the 100 hurdles and gutted out a second in the 300 hurdles despite an injured ankle.
On the boys side, Derek Pesta ran only against the clock in the 2-mile and was close to a PR in 10:16. The junior came within a stride of beating Rigo Vasquez in the mile, finishing in 4:44 on a cinder track which is longer and slower than the all-weather surface at Garcia-Elder Complex.
McAvoy was easily the most excited Mustang after she high-jumped 5-2.
“It’s been a long time,” said McAvoy, who did 5-0 as a sophomore and hadn’t been able to better the mark until Wednesday. “It was getting to be a mental thing. I feel real happy that I’ve finally moved on.”
Her first order of business after the high jump was calling head coach Jeff Myers, who was unable to attend the meet because of a meeting in San Jose.
Vera exclaimed, “I can’t run on this track.” And yet her 13.0 in the 100 and 27.26 in the 200 were good enough to give her 10 team points.
Ogle’s 5:22.33 mile may have been the best running performance of the day and perhaps her best effort of the season. Teammate Kathleen Miller was also in top form with a 5:26.42 as both were able run down early front-runner Courtney Allen, an 800 specialist who beat Ogle by five seconds in that race. Miller did, however, win the 2-mile in 12:10.
Unadia won the high hurdles in a personal best 16.96, then hurt her ankle in the high jump. She was visibly limping as she raced to the finish in the 300 hurdles, but was able to hang on for second in 53.65.
CCS Top 8 qualifiers: Vera and Unadia each qualified in multiple events for Friday’s Top 8 Meet at Los Gatos High. Unadia qualified in both hurdles, Vera made it in the 200, and each qualified as members of the Mustangs’ 4 x 100 relay team. Ogle is the first alternate in the 1,600.
