SALINAS – In the box score, Gilroy’s Athena Alarcon and Savannah
Silacci clocked matching times of 19:12 Saturday. But only one
could cross the finish line first.
SALINAS – In the box score, Gilroy’s Athena Alarcon and Savannah Silacci clocked matching times of 19:12 Saturday. But only one could cross the finish line first.
“I just kind of let her go,” said Silacci, who finished third Saturday at the Tri-County Athletic League Championships, one spot behind the second-place Alarcon. “Usually she’s been way ahead, and this week in practice I’ve been working really hard to stay with her and I finally got to stay with her in this race.
“But I think I did really good because I stayed with my teammate.”
Silacci seemed more than pleased to finish in third place at Salinas’ Toro Park, especially considering the top spot only helped lead the Mustangs to their third straight TCAL title. Although Notre Dame’s Nina Anderson recorded a league-best 18:52 on Saturday, the Gilroy girls garnered a league-low 35 points and easily defeated the second-place Spirits by a 35-56 margin.
The Gilroy boys, meanwhile, finished runner-up to Salinas 32-65, but edged third-place Alisal by a single point.
“The girls showed us they were the cream of the crop,” head coach Art Silva said.
Even though Anderson set the tone for Notre Dame, Gilroy flexed its depth when Alarcon and Silacci trailed by just 20 seconds, while teammates Maritza Ruelas (19:53) and Patricia Hernandez (20:06) followed in the sixth- and seventh-place spots, respectively.
Brandie Rodriguez rounded out Gilroy’s top-five runners in 17th place at 21:13.
“We all push each other,” Alarcon said. “That’s the good thing about our team.”
Just a sophomore, Alarcon said it was Toro’s steep hills where the Gilroy girls made their move, and not the flat terrain that makes up the beginning and end of the three-mile course.
“The hills is where I make up all my ground. It’s the flats that are killer,” Alarcon said. “That’s pretty much how our whole team is. The hills is where we make up ground.”
Silva said after about a month and a half of training, he practices hill repeats once a week — an exercise that clearly paid dividends on Saturday.
“They hate me those days, but it really shows,” Silva said. “Once they reach those hills, they’re passing girls left and right.”
The Gilroy girls now advance to the Central Coast Section Championships on Nov. 14 at Crystal Springs in Belmont, where they will be joined by their male counterparts.
“This really worked out well for us,” Silva said.
The Mustang boys, which didn’t qualify to CCS last season, made their triumphant return on Saturday by narrowly defeating Alisal 65-66 for the runner-up spot.
“We knew we had a chance,” Silva said. “I mean, Salinas has the best runners right now and they were running really well all year. It was a little bit of a surprise getting past Alisal, but you never know with these meets.”
Gilroy’s Tim Williams led the Mustangs to a fifth-place finish in 16:41, his best time at the Salinas course.
“I think I just played a smart race,” he said. “I didn’t go out as fast as I normally do. I just kept it pretty steady and passed people as I go.”
Juan Velasquez (16:56) and Armando Cobarrubias (17:01) trailed Williams in 10th and 11th place, respectively. Daniel Apuzzo finished in 17th place at 17:41, and Jose Gabino Ramirez provided the one-point edge in favor of Gilroy when he recorded an 18:04 for 22nd place.
Alisal, which defeated Gilroy in a league dual two weeks ago, had three runners in the top 10. However, its last two runners finished in 18th and 30th place.
“This was definitely a confidence-builder going into CCS,” Williams said.
Boys Results
Individual
1, D. Perez, Salinas, 16:10; 2, M. Bell, Salinas, 16:12; 3, J. Castillo, San Benito, 16:34; 4, D. Escobar, Alisal, 16:38; 5, T. Williams, Gilroy, 16:41; 6, F. Salvador, Alisal, 16:44; 7, B. Tena, Salinas, 16:49; 8, M. Negrete, Alisal, 16:51; 9, C. Soratos, Salinas, 16:53; 10, J. Velasquez, Gilroy, 16:56; 11, A. Cobarrubias, Gilroy, 17:01; 12, E. Guzman, San Benito, 17:04; 13, C. Gobell, Salinas, 17:12; 14, C. Ortega, Salinas, 17:13; 15, T. Scaglione, Palma, 17:37; 16, O. Vasquez, San Benito, 17:39; 17, D. Apuzzo, Daniel, Gilroy, 17:41; 18, R. Valencia, Alisal, 17:44; 19, E. Ruano, Everett Alvarez, 17:53; 20, R. Esqueda, San Benito, 17:55; 21, M. Soria, Palma,18:01; 22, J. Gabino Ramirez, Gilroy, 18:04; 23, S. Alcala, San Benito, 18:05; 24, C. D’Arrigo, Palma, 18:06; 25, C. Chen, Palma, 18:09; 26, J. Rendon, San Benito, 18:12; 27, G. Cuevas, Guillermo, North Salinas, 18:14; 28, D. Pina, North Salinas, 18:15; 29, E. Villanueva, Gilroy, 18:16; 30, L. Vargas, Alisal, 18:17; 31, V. Salvador, Alisal, 18:18; 32, J. Becerra, North Salinas, 18:26; 33, S. Camcam, Palma, 18:28; 34, F. Cervantes, Everett Alvarez, 18:42; 35, F. Lee, North Salinas, 19:03; 36, K. Majewski, Palma, 19:08; 37, J. Alvarado, Alisal, 19:11; 38, A. Chiquito, Everett Alvarez, 19:23; 39, G. Murillo, Everett Alvarez, 19:26; 40, C. Martinez, North Salinas, 19:30; 41, J. Corner, Palma, 19:43; 42, O. Pelayo, North Salinas, 20:56; 43, J. Kuykendall, Everett Alvarez, 22:27.
Team
1, Salinas, 32; 2, Gilroy, 65; 3, Alisal, 66; 4, San Benito, 74; 5, Palma, 118; 6, North Salinas, 162; 7, Everett Alvarez 173.
Girls Results
Individual
1, N. Anderson, Notre Dame, 18:52; 2, A. Alarcon, Gilroy, 19:12; 3, S. Silacci, Gilroy, 19:12; 4, R. Shimabukuro, San Benito, 19:30; 5, K. Palassou, Salinas, 19:51; 6, M. Ruelas, Maritza, Gilroy, 19:53; 7, P. Hernandez, Gilroy, 20:06; 8, D. Salvador, Alisal, 20:12; 9, D. Casillas, San Benito, 20:31; 10, N. Sandoval, Notre Dame, 20:33; 11, G. Belmontes, Alisal, 20:36; 12, R. Uriostegui, Alisal, 20:38; 13, S. Mudahar, Notre Dame, 20:39; 14, M. Vollstedt, Notre Dame, 20:53; 15, V. Alcala, Everett Alvarez, 21:01; 16, B. Salvador, Alisal, 21:06; 17, B. Rodriguez, Gilroy, 21:13; 18, A. Johnston, Notre Dame, 21:14; 19, J. Cook, San Benito, 21:23; 20, R. Lopez, North Salinas, 21:27; 21, M. Duarte, San Benito, 21:28; 22, A. Bautista, San Benito, 21:31; 23, M. Meza, Alisal, 21:32; 24, A. Hill, San Benito, 21:34; 25, A. Portal, Alisal, 21:41; 26, N. Raygoza, Everett Alvarez, 21:52; 27, C. Villalobos, Salinas, 21:58; 28, S. Blalock, Salinas, 22:24; 29, J. Lopez, Alisal, 22:32; 30, H. Land, Salinas, 22:35; 31, K. Chin, Salinas, 22:48; 32, S. Ramirez, Salinas, 22:54; 33, K. Packwood, Everett Alvarez, 23:00; 34, C. Collett, Gilroy, 23:02; 35, R. Castro, Everett Alvarez, 23:27; 36, K. Vasquez, San Benito, 23:27; 37, C. Barajas, North Salinas, 23:27; 38, A. Alcibar, Everett Alvarez, 24:20; 39, E. Pedraza, North Salinas, 24:32; 40, L. Ackerman, North Salinas, 24:37; 41, K. Jennings, Notre Dame, 25:27; 42, A. Donahoe, Gilroy, 25:51; 43, K. Brandon, Everett Alvarez, 26:00; 44, A. Fragoso, North Salinas, 26:09.
Team
1, Gilroy, 35; 2, Notre Dame, 56; 3, Alisal, 70; 4, San Benito, 75; 5, Salinas, 121; 6, Everett Alvarez, 147; 7, North Salinas, 180.
