Even the rain couldn’t wash Gilroy thrower Bobby Best out of the
top 10.
Gilroy – Even the rain couldn’t wash Gilroy thrower Bobby Best out of the top 10.
The senior, who will compete in track and field and football next year at Cal Poly, finished eighth in shot put and sixth in discus at this weekend’s prestigious Stanford Invite.
Best hit distances of 48-01.50 (shot put) and 145-03 (discus).
The figures weren’t the senior’s best numbers, but Gilroy assistant track and field coach Rich Martinez thought Best did pretty well, considering how the rainy weather affected the meet and has limited practice time in the past few weeks.
“Even though his marks aren’t as high, we were pleased with his performance,” Martinez said. “The rain has just been killer as far as practice…It’s really critical to get as many throws as possible.”
Martinez, who coached at Archbishop Mitty last season, said a thrower of Best’s caliber should be getting 20 to 30 throws a day, but that the poor weather has limited that.
Best had a better showing in the shot put as a junior at the Stanford Invite, where he took third with a throw of 52-02. His mark in the discus last year (155-07) was also better than Saturday’s, but Best finished one place higher this year.
Martinez said Best did have one of the more consistent showings in the discus.
“He was one of most consistent guys, getting over two (attempts) over 140 (feet),” Martinez said. “Other guys struggled and got one good one in.”
Stanford gave the senior his first good look at the Central Coast Section competition. The CCS swept the top three positions in shot put, with St. Francis’ David Wernick (55-01) taking first, Bellarmine’s Steve Powell (52-11.50) taking second and St. Francis’ Andy Vargas (52-10.75) taking third. In discus, two other CCS competitors finished ahead of Best. Mitty’s Drew Gordon (158-11) placed first and Los Gatos’ Randall Horn (153-04) finished in fifth.
The entire Gilroy track and field team will spend the week gearing up for the Avis Kelley Invite, which begins 8am Saturday at Gilroy High.
