The Mustangs knew heading into Friday’s Tri-County Athletic
League Championships at Live Oak that they didn’t have the
firepower to compete with the teams they were up against.
By Scott Campbell and Ana Patejdl Staff WRiters
Morgan Hill – The Mustangs knew heading into Friday’s Tri-County Athletic League Championships at Live Oak that they didn’t have the firepower to compete with the teams they were up against. The Gilroy swimming team didn’t have the standout swimmers or the depth to match Live Oak and San Benito, but the Mustangs nevertheless had some shining moments.
“We did pretty good,” Gilroy head coach Tom Clark said. “We did better than I expected. We had a good championship meet.”
After finishing a strong third in the 2005 league finals, the Mustang boys dropped to fifth this season. Missing 10 seniors that served as the backbone of last year’s team, Gilroy managed 136 points. San Benito won the six-team boys’ competition with 333 points.
The Lady Mustangs finished sixth in the seven-team field, notching 114 points. Live Oak ran away with the girls’ competition – finishing more than 100 points in front of runner-up Salinas – to secure its third straight championship.
Mustangs senior Scot Castruita spoke of the frustration of competing against the deep rosters of Gilroy’s league rivals without some of the team’s old mainstays.
“We missed all the (2005) seniors,” said Castruita, who took fourth in the 50-yard freestyle at 23.65. “That was a pretty big dent in our team. If we had the guys we’ve had in the past, we’d be up there. Now, we’re starting all over again.”
The event both the Gilroy boys and girls performed the best in was the 200-yard freestyle relay. The boys’ team of Daniel Shields, Samuel Whittaker, Aaron Moon and Castruita is on its way to the Central Coast Section preliminaries after posting its season-best time of 1:37.31. The Mustangs knocked more than two seconds off their previous best – 1:39.50 – with their fourth-place finish.
The Lady Mustangs also posted their top time in the TCAL Championships. Jenny Ailes, Melissa Davies, Diana Leavell and Megan Collett finished fourth in 1:52.16, a significant improvement on the 1:54.00 they took into the meet.
“Our relays did a heck of a lot better than I thought they’d do,” Clark said.
Collett enjoyed the best individual meet for the Lady Mustangs. The freshman took fourth in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:05.92 and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:08.33, giving hope that Gilroy swimming is on the way up.
Shields and Whittaker placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle. Both swimmers narrowly missed surpassing their season-best times.
The CCS Preliminaries start at Stanford on Friday at 8am. Should the Mustangs’ relay team advance to the finals, it would compete in the CCS Championships, which begin on Saturday at 10am.
~ Scott Campbell
Boys’ Volleyball Snubbed By CCS
After losing out on a TCAL title and an automatic playoff berth by falling to Monterey at home Friday night, the Gilroy boys’ volleyball team wasn’t expecting an at-large bid to CCS.
Saturday’s CCS playoff seeding meeting sealed that fate.
For the second 20-win season in a row, Gilroy (24-9) was left out of the 16-team playoff bracket. Monterey (23-9), the only TCAL team to make the playoffs, received the lowest seed.
The top three seeds were awarded to Homestead (25-4), Leland (25-6) and Los Gatos (29-5), respectively.
Baseball Escapes Scare vs. North Salinas
The Gilroy baseball team held a 6-0 lead by the middle of the third inning against North Salinas in Salinas Monday. By the seventh inning, the second-to-last place in TCAL Vikings had tied the game, 7-7. But the Mustangs produced seven 8th-inning runs to emerge with the 14-7 win.
The fourth-place Mustangs improved to 13-10 overall and 9-6 in league. North Salinas (5-18-1), whom Gilroy has beaten all three times in league play, fell to 2-14 in TCAL play.
“It’s interesting because against Hollister, we show up to play,” said Gilroy head coach Clint Wheeler, who was unhappy his squad gave up its early lead. “You need to bring that mentality every time and they don’t.”
Pitcher Michael Stevens, who relieved Ryan Evanger after five-plus innings, earned the win, allowing just one Viking run.
Drew Andersen, Danny Contreras and Chris Hernandez led the Gilroy offense with two hits apiece.
In the eighth inning, North Salinas walked the bases loaded and Gilroy capitalized from there.
The Mustangs are back on the field at home today to take on Palma in a make-up game from earlier in the season. The 4pm game will be the third and final time the two teams meet.
~ Ana Patejdl
