GILROY—Gilroy wrapped up its regular season with a bang.
The Mustang boys completed the sweep of the Monterey Bay League Center meets by taking first at the MBL Center Meet III Wednesday at Christmas Hill Park. The boys finished with a combined score of 42—well ahead of Everett Alvarez took second with 65 points. The Christopher boys finished sixth with 120 points. The Gilroy girls took second with 46 points, just behind Watsonville which scored 44.
Thirteen Gilroy-area athletes finished in the Top 20, including eight in the Top 10. Gilroy’s Briselda Perez led the way, taking first and recording a personal record in the girls race in 20:52.22—almost two minutes better than her previous time.
“It feels like all the hard work has paid off,” Perez said. “I’m going to keep working this hard or harder throughout the season.”
Monica Ruelas, the Mustangs’ stellar sophomore, took second and also PR’d with a time of 21:16.83. Coach Cathy Silva said she was very impressed with the way both girls ran today, especially at this pivotal point in the season.
“The way Briseida and Monica ran today, I would really be shocked if they don’t make it into CCS (Central Coast Section tournament) this year,” Silva said. “They’ve got a great chance at it. It’s going to be harder on Briseida just because she’s young.”
Christopher’s Natalie Fillippi led the pack for most of the race and finished in fourth with a time of 21:25.92—almost two minutes better than her time at the previous center meet on Oct. 8.
Fillippi said the hills—especially the step climb up the Christmas Hill Park amphitheatre steps—got the best of her and is something she’ll work on moving forward.
“I think I improved my time from the last time I ran here. I think I’m getting better at keeping my pace,” she said. “Monica, from Gilroy High, I ran with her last year and we always competed so I tried to stay with her or in front of her as long as I can.”
Gilroy’s Sean Kaufman, Kairo Barroso, Eric Heiser and Jose Tony Barrados all crossed the finish line within 34 seconds of one another to take fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth place, respectively. All four runners PR’d and took drastic chunks off their previous times.
“It feels good, but I’m very tired,” said Kaufman who took a minute off his time and finished in 17:15.12. “I got down into the 17s finally, now next is the 16s.”
The Mustangs’ team spirit was alive and well, as the pack cheered each other through the final stretch. Barroso, who beat his best time by 15 seconds and crossed the finish line in 17:16.16, said he wasn’t feeling up to race but his teammates helped him channel his inner beast mode and he returned the favor.
“We had quite a bit space between, so we caught up to each other toward the end,” Barroso said. “I was just telling Sean to push it and get good times for team. It’s a team sport.”
Heiser also PR’d and cut a minute off his time (17:32.46). Barrados was out in front for Gilroy for the first half of the race and led his team up the grueling hill. The sophomore runner cut about 40 seconds off his time and finished in 17:49.71.
“The boys are very excited. As they say, they’re 18-0 because they’ve taken first in the three center meets and there’s six other teams,” Silva said. “They’re looking forward to placing well in the big league meet and making it to CCS— that’s their goal right now. They want to make it to CCS as a team. They’re going to train for that and this just gave them the extra edge to keep that mindset when it gets hard.”
Gilroy’s Michael Kropff also PR’d, finishing in 18:19.70 to cut around a minute off his time.
Domenik Spirer, a foreign exchange student from Germany who is studying at Christopher, was the first to cross the finish line for his team. He ran his personal best for the Cougars, taking 27 seconds off his previous time.
Spirer was delighted with his time, especially given he started running cross country just over a month ago.
“I just picked it up. I’m going to Christopher High and I looked what they have for sports and what opportunities they had and what I can do,” Spirer said. “Cross country sounded very good and I love running.”
Christopher’s Sawyer Ciccone (18:45.71) and Austin Hudson (18:53.19) finished 23rd and 24th, respectively. Gilroy’s Jesus Ochoa was right on their heels with a 25th place finish in 18:53. 63.
Brandon Irwin, Jacob Buchner, Alejandro Diaz and Andre’ Selby—all Cougar runners—rounded out the Gilroy-area competitors with 27th, 28th, 29th and 32nd place finishes, respectively.
On the girls side, Christopher’s Vicky Fox took 12th (22:57.72) followed by Jackelyn Gomez Gonzalez and Karla Lozano, from Gilroy, in 15th and 16th place, respectively.
The Mustangs’ Rosa Rodriguez took 18th in 24:32.57, while Cecila Naranjo was 24th (25:35.75). Maria Trujillo took 27th in a time of 26:41.87.
Both Gilroy and Christopher will compete in the MBL Championships at 8 a.m. Nov. 1 at Toro Park.
