Every now and then an athlete does something that blows people
away.
Peter Guenther had one of those moments, but it came months
before many would realize he has a chance to become just the second
person in Gilroy High history to win two Central Coast Section
track and field titles in the same season.
GILROY – Every now and then an athlete does something that blows people away.
Peter Guenther had one of those moments, but it came months before many would realize he has a chance to become just the second person in Gilroy High history to win two Central Coast Section track and field titles in the same season.
Playing against Archbishop Mitty in the first Gilroy High football game on the schedule this past fall, Guenther lined up at running back and ran wide right to receive a swing pass. Before other players could blink, Guenther caught the ball and made a direct line for the end zone. Several defenders had excellent angles on him, but, as the saying goes, speed kills.
Accelerating past the flailing arms of defenders, thrown up in matador attempts to tackle him, it was like Guenther was shot out of a cannon.
He also avoided other players going low for his legs, and here is where it helps to be a hurdler.
“I remember just keeping my knees high,” Guenther said of the play during last week’s CCS track and field semifinals, in which the GHS senior recorded the second- and third-fastest times in the 110 and 300 hurdles, respectively. “You want your lower body to be high and your upper body low, so [doing hurdles] is kind of the same.”
The result of the play was a 58-yard touchdown, the first of Guenther’s football career.
As good as that touchdown felt, becoming just the second person from Gilroy to win two section titles in track in the same season – Ron Seanez did so in the 110 hurdles and the 330 hurdles in 1981 – would mean much, much more. Guenther will have his chance today when the CCS Championships begin at 4 p.m. at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex in Gilroy.
Even the state meet next week, which Guenther would advance to if he places in the top three, means less in his eyes.
“At this point, I look at CCS being more important,” Guenther said. “Once I get to state it will be more important, but it’s kind of taking it one step at a time.”
Last season Guenther took 23rd at the state meet in the 300 preliminaries after finishing fourth in CCS. He advanced to state after one of the top three finishers at CCS dropped the event.
This year Guenther has the top times in the section in both of his events. If he wins either one of the two, he will become the first CCS titleholder in track from GHS since Ernesto Salinas defended his title in the 400 in 1998.
Joining Guenther at today’s meet will be Kathleen Miller in the 3,200 and Sarah Unadia in the high jump.
There is a possibility Unadia will also be competing in the 110 hurdles if someone is scratched from the event. She finished ninth in the semifinals, just five hundredths of a second behind the last time to advance.
