Coach Jeff Myers got a glimpse of the future Thursday and he had
to like what he saw.
Coach Jeff Myers got a glimpse of the future Thursday and he had to like what he saw.
It included a freshman boy who ran a 2:11.59 in the 800, a freshman girl who clocked 51.5 in the 300 intermediate hurdles, three girls all sophomores or younger who broke six minutes in the mile, a junior boy who ran under five minutes in the mile, and a sophomore boy who showed excellent speed in the 100 and both hurdles.
Perhaps the future is now at Gilroy. The Mustangs opened the track and field season at Garcia-Elder Complex, competing against Live Oak and Sacred Heart Prep in a non-scoring meet.
“We just wanted to give the kids a shot to run, to get some competition in,” Myers said of the meet held in ideal, windless weather conditions with temperatures in the 50s.
Junior Derek Pesta was in midseason form in the mile, running a 4:56 after being pushed by freshman Juan Velasquez (4:59).
“I’m in pretty good shape,” Pesta said. “I’ve been doing a lot of biking and running. That’s a good time for now, but I would like to get it down to 4:36.”
Velasquez made an impressive debut in the 800 with his blazing 2:11.59. Pesta was second in 2:18, but he wasn’t able to push Velasquez. Pesta, however, is at his best in the long distances. He also won the 2-mile in 10:48.24, which was more than a minute faster than runner-up Agustin Serafino of Gilroy.
Myers was pleasantly surprised by the debut of Velasquez.
“I wasn’t expecting anything scoring-wise from him,” Myers said. “The sprinting workouts and distance workouts worked out real well for him.”
The girls mile run illustrated the depth of the Mustangs in the distance events. Freshman Paty Hernandez led the first three laps before being overtaken by sophomore teammates Brandie Rodriguez and Kathleen Miller. Rodriguez finished in 5:48 with Miller less than one second behind and Hernandez in 5:50.
“Wow, I did 6:03 in the intrasquad meet,” Rodriguez said. “That’s a pretty good start.”
Live Oak freshman Pauline Olsen took the 800 in 2:36 with Rodriguez second in 2:39. And then Rodriguez came back to win the 2-mile in 13:20.57.
“Brandie shocked me,” Myers said. “She was the biggest surprise of the day. You never know until you get kids out there what they will do. She competed very well.”
There were others who competed well, too. The star on the boys side was sophomore triple winner Peter Guenther, who ran 11.24 in the 100, 16.76 in the 110 hurdles and 43 even in the 300 hurdles.
“That’s an excellent start for him,” Myers said.
Other boys who performed well included Sean Hale, who long-jumped 20-3; Ismael Gutierrez, who tossed the discus 118-1.
Among the girls, freshman Sara Unadia made a splashy debut winning the 300 hurdles in 51.5 and the high jump in 4-10. Elise Ogle also did well in her first ace, running 1:06 in the 400. Carly Kennedy won the discus with a throw of 90-1.
“Overall, the kids competed better than I thought they would,” Myers said. “It was the first meet for a lot of them, and they seemed to enjoy the challenge.”
