For the second week in a row, Gilroy’s Logan Flores had reason to celebrate.
Not that he needed a reason to celebrate—which he did anyway with rival Peter Reikowski prior to their final vaults—but the Mustang broke his PR set last week in the pole vault when he cleared 14 feet at the 47th annual Avis Kelley Invitational on Saturday.
Upon clearing the bar, setting a new personal best and officially setting his winning mark, Flores pumped his arms, got a high five from his coach, one from Reikowski and a big hug from his teammates.
It was the high mark of a day that saw Gilroy and Christopher competitors set 22 PRs among varsity members and another 14 among the frosh/soph participants.
The two Gilroy teams combined for 20 Top 10 places among the varsity and another 12 among the frosh/soph.
This was among 38 schools who participated with hundreds of kids running, jumping and throwing through out the day.
Gilroy took fifth in both the boys varsity and boys frosh/soph teams. The girls took 11th.
Christopher took seventh among frosh/soph boys.
Gilroy
Searra Harding had the best day for the girls in terms of placing in her events, with a fifth in the 200m and a ninth in the 100m.
Harding went 13.33 in the 100m and followed that with a 27.78 in the 200m.
She was about 0.4 seconds off her PR in the 100 which se set on March 16 against Monterey with a 12.95. Still the 13.33 represents her third best time in the event so far this season.
“She is ahead of her times from where she was last year,” said coach Janet Lee. “She’s amazing. She’s a great leader for the kids, she’s a great kid and a great person.”
Gilroy had three other Top 5 finishes for the girls, led by Aphrodite Ayala’s PR time in the 3200m with a 12:55.86.
That led the freshman to a fifth place finish.
Lee said she was excited to see how much further Ayala can go.
“She really has a positive attitude and she still lot of space to grow,” Lee said.
In the 300m hurdles, freshman Marcela Mantilla took fifth with a PR time of 52.31.
Mantilla was also on the 4×400 relay team that took fourth with a 4:45.69. She ran along with Andrea Silva-Quiroz, Dariana Rodriguez and Athena Flores.
Flores also had a 13th place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 25 feet, 3.5 inches.
Rounding out the top performers for the girls was Monica Ruelas who continues to drop time in the 1600m and 800m for the season.
Ruelas took 15th in the 800 with a season record 2:40.87. She followed that up with a 5:53.83 in the 1600m, also a season best.
On the boys side, Flores followed up his first place in the pole vault with a PR in the 110m high hurdles with an eighth place finish at 16.67. He edged teammate Deyvin Mariscal by more than a second. Mariscal finished with a PR time of 17.88 for 12th place.
Flores was 0.05 seconds back of seventh place and 0.1 seconds back of sixth.
Mariscal did crack the Top 5 in the 300m hurdles, finishing fifth at 43.47. He was slightly ahead of teammate Vincent Tran, who took seventh with a PR time of 44.35.
Mariscal rounded out his track events with a fourth place in the 4×400 relay along with Vincent Tran, Anthony Lealao and Robert Bucio. The boys ran a 3:50.63.
Thai Gutierrez had the next best finish after Flores when he took second in the 3200m race with a season best 10:21.75.
He was just shy of a second back of winner Jesus Avalos from King City.
Teammate David Vargas turned in a solid sixth place effort at 10:54.65. Sergio Jimenez followed in seventh at 12:19.08, a PR for him.
Rounding out the track events for the boys was the 4×100 relay team of Tran, Lealao, Robert Bucio and Flores. The quartet took third with a time of 46.44.
The Mustangs were 0.81 seconds back of San Benito who took second at 45.63.
Finally, Gilroy had three Top 10 finishes in field events after Flores’ first place.
In the shot put, Victor Sanchez took 10th with a toss of 41 feet, 7 inches.
Christopher
Christopher had a small contingent of competitors come out to the Avis Kelley, but those who did made the most of it.
Isabella Jimenez led the charge for the Cougars with a fifth place in the discus, throwing a season-best 102 feet, 9 inches.
This was the fourth time Jimenez has cleared 100 feet in her high school career, besting her season best mark from March 23 against Gilroy by one inch.
She is still about two feet off her PR mark of 104 feet, 11 inches set at the MBL junior varsity finals last year.
Fatimah Ahmad followed with her own Top 10 effort in the 400m, taking ninth with a time of 1:05.73.
Rounding out the girls was PRs by Samantha Rabusin in the 300m hurdles and Jacqueline Sanchez in the 100m with marks of 58.62 and 14.31, respectively.
On the boys side, Austin Husdon had two Top 10 finishes with a seventh place mark in the 400m at 55.39, setting a PR along the way. The followed that with a season best 4:43.65 in the 1600m for ninth place.
Finally, Andrew Brisby took 11th in the triple jump at 38 feet, 2.75 inches.
Frosh/Soph
The frosh/soph teams had a solid day for both schools with nine Top 5 finishes.
Christopher’s Keola Sylva led the charge with a first place in the triple jump at 40 feet 9 inches, a personal best for the freshman.
Not to be outdone, Christopher’s Domenic Fortino took two second places in the throwing events, staring with a PR toss of 42 feet 3 inches in the shot put. He followed that with a 105-foot throw in the discus.
For Gilroy, Carlos Murillo took third in the 200m race at 25.21.
