Butler shaves two seconds off 400m time, ranked second in
CCS
GILROY – Senior Raquel Butler is getting faster.
The Lady Mustang speedster, who won two events in Thursday’s home meet against Notre Dame, shaved two minutes off her 400-meter time at the Bay Area Top Eight Meet at James Logan High School over the weekend.
“She’s peaking at the right time of year,” head coach Guido Zvigzne said.
Butler’s time of 57.8 makes her the second ranked 400m runner in the Central Coast Section, which will have its Trials on May 12 at Salinas High and Finals at Live Oak High on May 15. The top three finishers in each event will advance to the June 4-5 CIF State Track & Field Championships at Huges Stadium on the campus of Sacramento City College.
“Just an outstanding time. She’s poised to be top three in CCS and go to state,” said Zvigzne of Butler. “She’s been there before and it’s wonderful to see that she could go back again.”
Butler might not be alone either with a talented corps of Gilroy High tracksters on both the boys and girls varsity teams. Although neither got the meet win in Thursday’s meet against Palma/Notre Dame, there have been quite a few top individual performances.
The girls varsity squad, which has only seven competitors in the lineup, lost an 80-54 decision to Notre Dame, but still won seven events.
“They did really well for only having seven girls on the team,” Zvigzne said. “I’m very happy. It would be nice to have a few more out there. We could probably win the league championship. We need the ones who get thirds and seconds. We just don’t have the numbers.”
But they have the talent.
Along with Butler’s first place in the 400m, junior long-distance runner Stephanie Radtke took the tape in the mile with a time of 5:42 and the 800m with a time of 2:37. Senior Charlene Rojas won the triple jump with a distance of 31 feet-9 1/2 inches, while senior Elena Ramirez’s time of 13.14 was first in the 100m, an event usually run by Butler.
“She is trying to rest up a little bit,” said Zvigzne of why Butler did not run the 100m. “We’re scaling back (on her events).”
Butler also teamed up with Radtke, Ramirez and senior Laila Correa to win the mile relay.
The list of winners continued for the Lady Mustangs. Senior Charlene Rojas took first in the triple jump with leap of 31 feet-9 1/2 inches, while junior Sierra Barrozza won the shot put and the discus, as well as taking second in the 100m hurdles.
“It’s the usual suspects,” Zvigzne said.
The varsity boys lost to Palma 77-50, but not without winning several events. Sophomore Bobby Best, a top contender for the league title and a front-runner for CCS, took first in the discus with a hurl of 138 feet-7 inches and in the shot with a put of 48 feet-9 1/4 inches.
“He always wins his events,” Zvigzne said. “It’s like, ‘OK, we get 10 points with him.'”
Gilroy’s Frank Valadez topped the field with a distance of six feet in the high jump and senior Nate Barmore won the mile in 5:04.
“This is not his fastest time, but it was windy,” said Zvigzne of Barmore, whose best time in the mile is 4:58.
The Mustangs swept the top three spots in the 100m with senior Louie Gutierrez in first, teammate Mark Miranda in second and senior Melvin Bryant in third.
“I’m glad to see he’s out again,” said Zvigzne of Bryant.
The varsity boys also won the 400 relay with a time of 45.03 to round out its top finishes.
“The boys, I’m real happy with that because Palma is a great sports school and we competed with them,” Zvigzne said. “It could have been closer but I moved some people down to JV so we could win one.”
The junior varsity boys team defeated Palma by a 66-42 spread.
Sophomore Arnulfo Velasquez, who has run for varsity in several meets this season and will do so for the T-CAL Finals on May 15, won the mile in 5:02, the 800m in 2:14 and the two-mile run.
Sophomore Miles Amodeo won the 65m high hurdles; Jo Jo Gutierrez took the tape in the 100m in 11.2 and the 200m in 21.68; Christian Cania won the triple jump with a leap of 38 feet-9 3/4; and sophomore Jeremy Abraham’s throw of 103 feet-one inch was tops in the discus.
In addition, the JV boys also won the 400m relay in 47.47 and the mile relay in 3:48.
“The JV boys are fantastic,” Zvigzne said. “We’ll start moving them up for the league meet. I hope to see the varsity boys do good at the league championships. I think they can finish strong.”
The Gilroy track teams will take on league-foe Live Oak in Morgan Hill on Thursday to wrap up the regular-season.
