GILROY – GHS girls cross country team members have one thought
in their minds heading into Saturday’s Tri County Athletic League
championships at Toro Park in Salinas
– three-peat.
GILROY – GHS girls cross country team members have one thought in their minds heading into Saturday’s Tri County Athletic League championships at Toro Park in Salinas – three-peat.
The two-time defending league champs, for all intensive purposes, are the favorites again this year after racing to a 6-0 league mark. A mixture of young and experienced runners, the girls are led by sophomore Athena Alarcon, who posted the TCAL’s best girls’ 3-mile time earlier this year in a dual meet against San Benito with a 19:11.
“We are a little nervous just like any meet,” Alarcon said. “But I’m pretty confident we will do well. The teamwork and how we push ourselves during practice is all worth it. A lot of our runners are really good. We have been pretty fortunate.”
Four other Mustangs have posted top-10 league times this season including, sophomore Savannah Silacci (19:55), sophomore Maritza Ruelas (19:56), senior captain Paty Hernandez (19:59) and senior Brandie Rodriguez (20:24).
The boys are out for redemption as they finished one spot out of Central Coast Section qualifying with a fifth-place showing at last year’s TCALs.
This year’s team has showed great improvements and has remained consistent throughout the season.
Their strongest performance came last month against San Benito as the Mustangs were able to knock off the Balers for the first time under the seven-season watch of coaches Art and Cathy Silva. Five of the seven varsity runners came in below the 17-minute mark with freshman Armando Cobarrubias shocking even himself with a 16:14 – a time that sits as the fastest this season in the TCAL.
“Last year we didn’t really have a leader,” Art Silva said. “Between Juan (Velasquez) and Tim (Williams) they stepped up. With incoming freshman, Armando Cobarrubias, who is just a natural runner, he brought confidence to the team. Last year we were seven runners on different islands. This year we are seven runners on one island.”
Williams, who was the only member of the boy’s team to qualify for CCS a year ago said that the team has a lot of confidence heading into Saturday’s race.
“We are pretty sure we will qualify as a team for CCS,” the junior said. “We definitely remembered last year when we were training during the summer. We are right in the mix with all the other teams.”
