GHS cross country teams brave heat, pick up league victories
One-hundred-and-eight degrees is too hot for pretty much anything, especially running 3 miles.
But a race is a race, and the Gilroy High boys and girls cross country teams had jobs to do.
To protect the runners against the extreme heat Monday, the start time of Gilroy High’s co-ed cross country dual meet with Palma and Notre Dame was pushed back to 5 p.m., rather than its originally scheduled 3:30 p.m.
“As long as no one has heat stroke symptoms after this, we will consider this a success,” GHS coach Cathy Silva said.
Properly hydrated and itching to go, both the GHS boys and girls teams ran away with victories to kick of their respective Tri-County Athletic League season.
The Mustang boys swept the top-five spots and defeated Palma, 15 to 44.
Tim Williams paced the group with an 18 minute, 38 second run through Christmas Hill Park.
Raul Cobarrubias sprinted home in 18:49 for second place, saving a burst of energy for the end.
“We were thinking about staying in a pack, but after a while we got kind of competitive and spread out,” Cobarrubias said.
Ryan Swenor clocked 19:04 for a third-place finish, Gabino Ramirez (19:31, 4th), Enrique Villanueva (19:41, 5th) and Jose Gerardo Ramirez (19:59, 7th) round out the Mustangs’ times.
“The times are obviously going to come down,” Silva said. “Nobody runs fast in this heat.”
The athletes were greeted by a reformatted course, which featured a steep hill closer to the start of the race. A major change from last year’s course at Christmas Hill.
“That first hill is killer,” said junior Savannah Silacci, who managed to stay on her feet to record the girls’ top time of 21:40. “The heat was so dry. You can’t swallow. You can’t even feel your legs. You are just trying to finish.”
The win was her first in her prep career as the girls topped Notre Dame, 24 to 31.
Athena Alarcon finished two seconds behind Silacci for runner up, giving the Mustangs enough cushion to edge ahead of the Spirits.
Maritza Ruelas clocked a 23:02 for fourth place, adding some insurance to the lead, while Noemi Rivera (26:49, 7th), Jessica Arciga (29:33, 10th), Wendy Valdez (30:00, 11th) and Chelsey Kalata (31:09, 12th) complete the varsity roster.
NOTE: Kyle Collett anchored a junior varsity boys victory over Palma with an 18:40. The JV mustangs defeated the Chieftains 17-50.
