Academically, no other team across California could compete with
the Gilroy High School cross-country team, who were the 2006-07 CIF
Academic State champions in their sport.
By Greg Chapman Staff Writer
Academically, no other team across California could compete with the Gilroy High School cross-country team, who were the 2006-07 CIF Academic State champions in their sport.
The GHS cross-country team, comprised of seven girls, had an unweighted GPA of 3.9545, the best in the state.
“It was exciting for them, they put in a lot of effort for it,” said GHS Cross-Country Coach Cathy Silva.
Last year the Mustangs lost by a tenth of a point in the CCS section with a 3.85 GPA, and it motivated them after losing by such a small margin.
“This year they were determined to win,” Silva said. “They are a very dedicated group of girls.”
Megan Litle, senior valedictorian, said the team members made sure they tried hard this year to win the award and it was a big accomplishment because they had to achieve it together, which made it even better.
Silva called the team a very unique group because “they just like school,” she said.
Silva said the group talked about what interested them during warm-ups. A lot of it was their school subjects. The older girls would help out the three freshmen with the courses they had already taken.
Even though the CIF didn’t recognized the team with the highest GPA because team sizes vary, the Mustangs excelled in college preparatory courses, taking advanced placement and honors classes.
Litle, who won the Scholar Athlete award at GHS, took four AP courses, junior Kristina Schmidt took three AP courses, sophomore Cathleen Miller took three honors courses, sophomore Christine Bobula took one AP course and two honors courses and the three freshmen were in honors classes.
“A lot of people couldn’t believe that our GPA was that high for seven people, when people try to get a 3.9 by themselves,” Schmidt said. “Whoever thought seven girls, from Gilroy of all places would have won.”
It was exciting to Schmidt because no other team in Gilroy had even won an academic championship on the CCS level, and she was extremely happy to spread the news.
“I was definitely happy to tell everyone,” Schmidt said.
The first person she called was Litle because she wasn’t present when the team heard the news, and every person she saw was informed of what the team had accomplished.
“I guess you get a satisfaction of telling people things like that,” Bobula said. “It’s not just that we had a high GPA, but we had the highest GPA in the state of all the sports teams. I guess it’s the magnitude.”
Bobula said the team looked at the schools that had put in their GPAs and they were from all over the state and some from schools they had never heard of.
What helped the girls achieve this accomplishment was the fact they’re best friends who encourage each other and feed off each other, so the milestone was reached as a team.
“If your best friends are special, and they’re on the team, then the team is definitely amazing,” Bobula said.
To her, it was just special to be apart of the team, and she said next year they’re going to try for a 4.0 GPA.
Silva said the team looks at challenges as goals, plans for it and goes out and does it.
“Anything they set their mind to, they seem to achieve,” Silva said. “As a coach, you couldn’t ask for a better group of girls.”
