Winning two Central Coast Section titles was a goal of Peter
Guenther’s. He accomplished that goal by taking first in the 110
and 300 hurdles last Friday.
”
Now this is the main goal,
”
Guenther said in regards to the state meet, which begins today
in Clovis.
”
My focus has changed.
”
CLOVIS – Winning two Central Coast Section titles was a goal of Peter Guenther’s. He accomplished that goal by taking first in the 110 and 300 hurdles last Friday.
“Now this is the main goal,” Guenther said in regards to the state meet, which begins today in Clovis. “My focus has changed.”
Guenther enters today’s preliminaries with the seventh and 20th best qualifying times in California for the 300 and 110, respectively. Those rankings aren’t necessarily an indication of what will result in the races, though. Some runners have personal records better than the times recorded in their sectional meets last week.
Beating his career best in the 300 at the CCS meet a week ago, Guenther’s victory in 38.16 seconds is behind Reggie Wyatt of La Sierra (Southern Section), who enters with the top seed at 36.88 seconds. But Guenther’s time isn’t far off, and his best is unlikely to be equaled by anyone outside of the top 10 runners.
“The 300s, he’s right there,” Gilroy coach Jeff Myers said. “I don’t see him not making the nine.”
The top nine qualify for Saturday’s finals, which would be leaps and bounds ahead of where Guenther was at as a junior last year. He finished 23rd in the state preliminaries for the 300 with a 39.50.
“Last year, even though I was [at state], it was kind of unrealistic to think I would win,” Guenther said. “But this year, it’s like, ‘Hey. I’m right there with the best.’
Guenther could also make strides in moving up the 110 ranks. His personal record of 14.55 seconds wasn’t improved upon at CCS mainly due to Salinas’ John Prader being disqualified for a false start. Prader was expected to challenge for the title, and at the very least he would have pushed Guenther to a better time than 14.68, which was still good enough to leave the rest of the field far behind. Matching his best time to this point would put the GHS senior at 18th according to the state qualifying times.
“The 110 is going to be close,” Myers said. “All it’s going to take is a clean start and a great race. It will be a battle, but [making the finals] is not undoable.”
While a state title in the 300 is the ultimate dream, Guenther thinks medaling, which requires placing in the top six, would qualify as a success.
“We could look at (state) as a bonus,” Guenther said. “At the same time, I’m hoping to do really well at it.”
