Thanksgiving dinner wasn’t quite as fulfilling this year for a
group of runners from Gilroy High, but the girls cross country team
still has good reason to give thanks.
A trip to Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, to compete in the
CIF State cross country championships at 9:30 a.m., is what seven
Mustangs have been waiting for all year.
FRESNO – Thanksgiving dinner wasn’t quite as fulfilling this year for a group of runners from Gilroy High, but the girls cross country team still has good reason to give thanks.
A trip to Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, to compete in the CIF State cross country championships at 9:30 a.m., is what seven Mustangs have been waiting for all year.
“It’s kind of a bummer that we cant eat pies,” said junior Anne Donahoe, “but I think running in the state meet is worth skipping pie.”
Donahoe, Athena Alarcon, Savannah Silacci, Paty Hernandez, Brandie Rodriguez, Christine Bobula and Kathleen Miller will all be donning GHS blue and gold for the race.
Miller, the third-place finisher in the Central Coast Section meet in Salinas two weeks ago, has been the lone Mustang to compete at state the last two seasons. She finished 31st in 2007, and 75th in 2006.
Miller’s teammates made the trip to Woodward Park to root her on both times, but after finishing second as a squad at CCS this season, Miller will have more pushing her than a cheering squad.
“It’s really exciting to be in the meet this year,” Donahoe said. “We’ve always been wanting Kathleen to do well. This year we want to support her by helping her in the race.”
Doing so could give Gilroy a top-15 finish, according to coach Art Silva.
“It just depends how they get out of the shoot and who’s around them,” he said.
“It’s a sprint; it’s not like any of the other races the kids have been in before. There are girls running in the [16-minute range] and most boys can’t do that. It’s an all-out sprint from the get-go.”
While the strength and size of the competition will be fierce – over 200 runners will be taking part in the Division I race – the experience is all that really matters.
No GHS cross country team has ever qualified for state before this season.
“I think it’s pretty awesome that our school can do this,” junior Brandie Rodriguez said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been at a race where there’s that many people so we have to book it to start and then kind of find our tempo.”
GHS coach Cathy Silva, who runs the team with her husband Art, thinks her runners are ready.
“I think they’re going to do well just because they’re getting stronger,” she said. “They’ve had another two weeks to train and I think they’re peaking.”
