Even an unusual November heat wave couldn’t keep Gilroy High’s
girls cross country team from taking second place at the Central
Coast Section Division I meet held Saturday at Toro Park in
Salinas.
The result is the first-ever trip to state as a team in school
history.
SALINAS – Even an unusual November heat wave couldn’t keep Gilroy High’s girls cross country team from taking second place at the Central Coast Section Division I meet held Saturday at Toro Park in Salinas.
The result is the first-ever trip to state as a team in school history.
The squad missed qualifying for state by just a few seconds last season, leaving just Kathleen Miller to represent the Mustangs. This year, the invitation is open to everyone.
“It’s awesome,” Miller said. “It’s just as emotional (as last year), for just that reason. I’m just so proud of the hard work everyone put themselves through.”
Miller took third overall with a time of 19 minutes, 8 seconds, while freshmen Athena Alarcon (20:31) and Savannah Silacci (20:41) took 10th and 11th, respectively.
Brandie Rodriguez (21:03, 14th), Paty Hernandez (21:15, 16th), Christine Bobula (21:43, 25th) and Anne Donahoe (22:42, 48th) rounded out Gilroy’s squad.
“I knew our middle runners were going to make the difference,” Gilroy coach Art Silva said.
Finishing six points behind first-place Carlmont, which scored 44, some of the Mustang runners had mixed emotions. Just missing a CCS title, despite the excitement of going to state, was bittersweet for some.
“They’re just used to winning,” Silva said. “You figure that’s six spots, each person has to pass just one more runner.”
With five of the top 25 finishers, though, there weren’t many people for the Mustangs to pass. The warm temperatures also didn’t help when trying to make that last kick in the final stretch.
“[The weather] definitely affected [the race] if you look at the times – no course records out there,” Miller said. “But we pushed through.”
Gilroy also had two boys competing in the meet. Sophomore Tim Williams took in 47th with a time of 17:59, and junior Juan Velasquez clocked in at 18:21 for 58th.
Knowing how painful it was last year for his team to just miss an appearance at state, which will be held Nov. 29 at Woodward Park in Fresno, Silva gave some final advice to his runners just before the race.
“Our coach was telling us before we started our race, ‘The entire time, even if you feel tired, leave no doubt behind,’ ” Miller said.
Exceeding all accomplishments by past teams at GHS, there is no doubt now that this is the best group to ever run for Gilroy. The stress of a season’s worth of races has now been removed.
“The plans at state is to have fun,” Miller said. “We earned it.”
