Gilroy’s coed cross country teams completed a near sweep in its
races against fellow Tri-County Athletic League members this
week.
GILROY – Gilroy’s coed cross country teams completed a near sweep in its races against fellow Tri-County Athletic League members this week.
Taking on Alvarez and North Salinas Monday at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, the Mustangs won 11 out of the 12 pairings, dropping only the varsity boys race to North Salinas. The one defeat wasn’t much of a disappointment, though, as 15 out of Gilroy’s 22 male runners recorded personal bests. Tim Williams had the Mustangs’ best time, breaking the 18-minute mark with a time of 17:45.
“That’s a great time for him to be running at this point in the season,” Gilroy coach Cathy Silva said.
Junior Wesley Thielges broke 18 minutes for the first time, crossing the finish line in 17:53.
The girls, however, from top to bottom were phenomenal in their ability to dominate not only Monday’s race, but also a Wednesday dual with Palma. The ladies didn’t lose one race either day, from the freshmen to varsity level, and even had the first five finishers in Wednesday’s race.
“Our girls were just so much fun to watch the last couple races,” Silva said. “They are just running very strong and they’ve been working very hard all season long and it’s paying off for the girls.”
Kathleen Miller had the top showing Monday, finishing in 18:49.
“We want her to start running under 19 so that was good,” Silva said.
Christine Bobula set back-to-back personal records from Monday to Wednesday, with her new best being set at 20:43.
Paty Hernandez also has made huge strides to this point in the year, coming in under 20 minutes at 19:58.
Two runners that have Silva especially excited are freshmen Savanah Silacci and Athena Alarcon.
Silacci, running with the varsity team, came across the line in 20:32, while Alarcon was equally impressive by coming in at 20:35 in the junior varsity race.
“Isn’t that outstanding?” Silva said.
