Gilroy
– The bad news? Gilroy hasn’t been able to field a full varsity
gymnastics team this season. The good news? The girls who do suit
up are getting a whole lot better.
Gilroy – The bad news? Gilroy hasn’t been able to field a full varsity gymnastics team this season. The good news? The girls who do suit up are getting a whole lot better.
Varsity coach Nicki Anagnoston’s team didn’t have enough members to earn a team score at Thursday’s three-way meet with Tracy and West High in Tracy. But with Samantha Nussbaumer taking first place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.0, Stephanie Orth not far behind with a 5th on floor (8.2) and Adrienne Etienne finishing 4th on vault (7.4), Anagnoston has plenty to be excited about as her squad counts down the days to the Varsity Finals in Mountain View on May 18.
Nussbaumer’s performance had Anagnoston gushing: “What stood out about her routine was her tumbling. It was really dynamic and powerful and clean. It was just really impressive.”
The junior, who performed to “Toxic” by Britney Spears, bagged her highest score and finish in her varsity career in the floor exercise.
On the junior varsity level, Gilroy finished second with a team score of 150.92. Leading the Mustangs was freshman Veronica Kelly, who pulled off a clean sweep of all four events and placed 1st in the all-around.
Kelly was at her best on vault, scoring a 9.2. She also finished first on uneven bars (7.5), beam (8.5) and floor (9.1) for an all-around score of 34.3.
“Veronica, she is just steady and consistent and competitive,” said Anagnoston. “She really, really just holds her own and keeps coming back no matter what happens. She’s really impressive and keeps her composure.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a clean sweep in all five categories at a meet with full teams competing.”
Other JV placers for Gilroy included Larissa Gomez (2nd floor, 8.5), Amber Minderler (3rd bars, 6.7; 5th vault, 8.5; 3rd all-around, 29.3), Shannon Hubbard (4th vault, 8.6; 4th all-around, 29.2) and Carrie McGeehon (4th bars, 6.5).
Anagnoston said she and JV coaches Jennifer Yip, Kim Closter and Gerardo Mendoza plan to prepare Kelly for the JV Finals on May 5 at Gilroy High. The upshot is that they’ll then be able to move her up to varsity for the Varsity Finals at Twisters in Mountain View.
“She’s building her competitive experience right now,” Anagnoston said. “It’s tempting (to move her up to varsity right now) but it’s not worth it, because we don’t have a full team. My hope is to compete her at May 18 at the varsity level … the advantage is that in gymnastics you can move them up like that in the same season.
“But she’s going to have some tough competition just on the JV level before that happens.”
Tennis felled by Acorns
The Gilroy boys’ tennis team was on familiar territory Thursday afternoon, losing 6-1 to Live Oak in Morgan Hill – the same score by which the Mustangs lost to the Acorns at home on April 5.
But head coach Chris Wolowiec was encouraged by a tougher Gilroy team that performed well against Live Oak.
“We improved upon the last time that we played them,” Wolowiec said. “The final score was the same, six matches to one, but we fought back in a lot of games.”
The lone winners for Gilroy were No. 2 doubles pairing Matt Arvizu and Carlos Fernandez. They beat Andrew Reimer and Jake Plafker, 6-1, 6-1.
“I liked the way Carlos Fernandez played,” the coach said. “I like his style of play, it’s aggressive.
Sophomore Ben Wilson, the Mustangs’ No. 1 singles player, lost 6-0, 6-4 to Live Oak fill-in No. 1 K.C. McElroy.
“The first set went by really quickly,” said Wolowiec, “but Ben fought back in the second set, so that was good.”
The coach also singled out No. 1 doubles pairing Julian Mireles and Anthony Dragotto for praise. Facing Live Oak’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, paired together in preparation for the TCAL Finals scheduled for April 27-29, Mirales and Dragotto lost in straight sets but acquitted themselves well in the clincher.
“I’m happy with my doubles players,” Wolowiec said. “My No. 1 doubles players – Julian Mireles and Anthony Dragotto – they fought back in the second set yesterday. They lost the second set 6-4, which is close, and they were getting to the net, which is where doubles is won.”
Gilroy climbs standings
The GHS baseball team beat Salinas 9-5 away on Friday to gain a game on Tri-County Athletic League leader Live Oak, which fell 6-2 to Hollister at home.
Gilroy took a 9-1 lead after three innings, scoring six runs on five hits to knock Salinas starter Manny Martinez out of the game. The Mustangs brought 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
Senior Anthony Lucio picked up the win for Gilroy and is now 4-0 on the season. Peter Mickartz had two hits, including a double, drove in five runs and pitched two innings of scoreless relief for the save. Third baseman Marc Gonzalez had a double among his two hits, while center fielder Josh Sterling had a pair of hits and sophomore second baseman Michael Stevens also had a two-bagger.
Gilroy finished with eight hits on the day, Salinas with 11. Gilroy improves to 7-2 in TCAL – a half game behind Live Oak (8-2), and 13-7 overall. Salinas falls to 1-9 in league and 9-16 overall.
The GHS softball team also won on Friday, beating Aptos in a make-up game.
