Best advances to state track and field meet in discus, Amodeo
medals in hurdles with sixth-place finish
Gilroy – Neither Bobby Best nor Miles Amodeo left Friday night’s Central Coast Section Track and Field Championships empty-handed.
For the second year in a row, Best, a senior, earned a state-qualifying spot in the discus. Fellow senior Amodeo took home a medal for sixth place in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
“I medaled,” said Amodeo, out of breath after setting a new personal record (40.29) for the second time in one week. “I’m just happy it was a good end to my career.”
Best was also satisfied with his third-place finish in the discus and sixth-place finish in shot put.
“Today I was content. I wasn’t completely in awe of my throws, but,” Best said. “I’ll take it.”
Best, who will attend Cal Poly next year and play football and compete in track, started off the day with a season-best 52-10 throw in the discus – a good showing, but a little short of what the senior had been doing in practice this past week.
“We were hoping he’d hit some monsters, but that’s hard to do especially when you have a couple scratches,” said Gilroy throwing coach Rich Masey. “He wasn’t in the form he should be.”
In practice the week leading up to the finals, Best was launching legal throws close to 60 feet. To put that in perspective, Archbishop Mitty’s Drew Gordon hit 57-01.5 for the CCS shot put title Friday.
“I got psyched up (about the marks I hit in practice) and put too much pressure on myself,” Best analyzed.
Not long after the shot put event, Best punched his ticket to next weekend’s state meet with his fourth throw in discus. The senior let a 165-02-foot throw fly, which ultimately put him in third behind Gordon (second, 167-03) and champion Will Tsai of Homestead (183-07). Behind Best was Archbishop Mitty’s Jimmy Kearny (161-07).
Best took a different approach going into the discus.
“I was thinking I’m already going to college. If I don’t do it today, I still know what I’m capable of,” Best said.
But the senior did advance, and he’s hoping the way his track postseason has progressed is a sign of what’s to come at the state meet, which begins Friday.
“Last year, I had a trend of (distances) going down,” said Best, who only threw in the 150’s at last year’s state meet. “This year, I’m actually building up.”
Amodeo took the track hoping to finish higher than eighth, which is where he was seeded. The senior succeeded in doing so by running a sub 41-second time for the first time in his career.
“My coach told me to stay with the leaders as long as I could,” Amodeo said after his race. “During the last stretch, my legs went to Jell-O. I still can’t feel them.”
Down the final straightaway, Amodeo stayed on his feet while two of his competitors fell trying to clear the second-to-last hurdle. He hung on – despite hitting the last two hurdles – for sixth place.
Other local athletes who qualified for the state meet were San Benito’s Amanda Boyd in the 1600 (second, 5:01.22) and Josh Schroder and Todd Merrigan in the pole vault.
Ana Patejdl is the sports editor of the Gilroy Dispatch. She can be reached at 842-1694 or by e-mail at ap******@gi************.com.
