Peter Guenther admits it gets nerve-wracking before races, but
he took some advice from an anonymous source Saturday, just before
getting into the blocks for his 110 hurdles race in the Central
Coast Section Semifinals.
”
I heard someone say, ‘trust your training,’
”
Guenther said.
”
That’s what it really comes down to, knowing you’ve put in the
work.
”
The senior sprinter’s work in preparation paid off, as he
recorded the second-fastest time in the 110 hurdles, winning his
heat in a time of 14.82 seconds.
GILROY – Peter Guenther admits it gets nerve-wracking before races, but he took some advice from an anonymous source Saturday, just before getting into the blocks for his 110 hurdles race in the Central Coast Section Semifinals.
“I heard someone say, ‘trust your training,'” Guenther said. “That’s what it really comes down to, knowing you’ve put in the work.”
The senior sprinter’s work in preparation paid off, as he recorded the second-fastest time in the 110 hurdles, winning his heat in a time of 14.82 seconds. The result was made more impressive by the fact that Guenther had a 3.2-mph headwind but only finished .08 seconds behind Salinas’ Jon Prader in the overall qualifying times. The top eight times advanced to Friday’s CCS Finals, again being held at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex in Gilroy, but it’s likely to be a two-horse race.
It’s a race that has been on Guenther’s mind for quite some time.
“For the last couple months, actually, I’ve been thinking about the section finals,” he said. “Before I go to bed I visualize it.”
Guenther beat Prader in a head-to-head battle at the Tri-County Athletic League Finals, but, as Guenther admits, any given day things can change.
Later in the evening Saturday, Guenther secured his spot in the 300 hurdles final by recording the third-fastest time of the day at 39.09 seconds. The Mustang’s biggest competition at Friday’s meet will be Archbishop Mitty’s Jeffrey Campbell and Alvarez’s Mike Skinner, who finished first and second in the event overall, respectively.
“The boys’ 300 hurdles is probably going to be the best race of the night,” Gilroy coach Jeff Myers said. “Every invitational has always been those three – first, second and third in some format.”
Joining Guenther at the section finals will be Gilroy’s Kathleen Miller in the 3,200 and Sarah Unadia in the high jump.
Unadia qualified for the finals in the high jump with a qualifying mark of 5 feet, 2 inches, but she missed the finals for both the 300 and 100 hurdles, the latter coming by just five hundredths of a second. Unadia finished ninth in 15.84 seconds, leaving her just outside of the top eight.
Myers said Unadia has an excellent opportunity to qualify for state by finishing in the top three of the high jump after a lackluster semifinals for the entire field. Her biggest competition will likely come against Aptos’ Julia McCarthy, Live Oak’s Stephanie Armstrong, Los Altos’ Kristin Rimbach and Saratoga’s Kiersten Dolbec, who all recorded jumps of 5-foot-2 Saturday.
“I would say those five will be vying for those three spots, with Dolbec being the favorite,” Myers said.
Miller just made the cut in the 3,200 by crossing the line in 11:15.98, good for eighth place. Paty Hernandez took 26th with a time of 12:10.79.
“[Miller] actually had a minor incident where she fell during training,” Myers said. “I know she wasn’t feeling 100 percent. … But her time wasn’t bad.”
GHS freshman Athena Alarcon dropped events to focus on the 1,600, finishing 13th with a time of 5:19.79.
Freshman Chelsea Kalata and senior Kim Johnson both took 20th for the Mustangs, with the former competing in the 100-meter dash and the latter in the discus.
Sarina Sandoval rounded out Gilroy’s team by taking 24th in the shotput with a long toss of 31 feet, 4 inches.
