Gilroy christens new track against old foe; San Benito sweeps
Mustangs
Gilroy – If you wandered over to Gilroy High Thursday afternoon, you would have fallen upon an event that hasn’t happened on its campus in a while: A track and field meet.
Last season, the high school’s deteriorating dirt track wasn’t fit for competition. In 2004, Gilroy hosted just a couple meets.
But in August, the new Garcia-Elder Sports Complex came along and so did a brand new track, which enabled the Mustangs to kick off the 2006 track season at home against San Benito.
The ‘Balers swept Gilroy in both the girls’ and boys’ meets, however the Mustangs had individual winners in 14 events.
But the final score doesn’t tell the whole story.
During the offseason, Gilroy hired veteran head coach Jeff Myers, a 1985 GHS graduate who spent the last five years coaching Central Coast Section perennial power Archbishop Mitty. Myers, who helped the Monarchs to a CCS title in 2003, competed for legendary Gilroy track and field coaches Avis Kelley and Jack Rymers in the 80’s and is hoping to return the Gilroy program to the highly-respected status it had under those two coaches.
“I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to come back to Gilroy. I basically wanted to give back to the program that gave me my start,” Myers said. “I’ve got really high goals and high expectations for this program.”
By the end of the meet Thursday, the Gilroy program seemed to already be getting a little of that old glory back.
Only a handful of points separated the Gilroy and San Benito girls heading into their final event, the 4×400-meter relay. As Gilroy freshman Ariana Vera and San Benito senior Amanda Boyd set out for the anchor leg of the close race, athletes from both teams ran across the football field from one side of the track to the other to the final straight-away, cheering their respective teammates. Boyd, a 2005 state qualifier in the 3200 meters, overtook Vera in the last lap to help the ‘Balers to a 4:31.08 finish to win the race and the meet. The San Benito girls beat the Lady Mustangs by a 64-63 score.
“It was an exciting finish,” Myers said. “It came down to that. That’s track and field right there.”
This spring, Gilroy’s two best chances for CCS success are senior thrower Bobby Best, a returning state qualifier, and senior distance runner Arnulfo Velasquez, who qualified for the CCS meet last season. Best, who has signed a letter of intent to play football and compete in track and field next year at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, won both the shot put (50-8) and discus (144-4) events.
“Overall, it was a pretty decent lead opener for me,” said Best, who peaked at 164-10 in discus and 53-2 in shot put last year. “I know I’m going to PR (this season).”
Velasquez, who had a successful cross country season in the fall, continued his battle with the other top distance runner in the Tri-County Athletic league, San Benito’s Rigo Vasquez. In the most exciting race of the night, Velasquez beat Vasquez by a shoulder in a photo-finish in the 1600 meters. The two runners crossed the line one-hundredth of a second apart – Velasquez at 4:43.75 and Vasquez at 4:43.76. Vasquez got revenge in the 3200 meters, however, turning on the jets in the last 100 meters to win with a time of 10:25.52. Velasquez crossed the line at 10:27.59.
Velasquez, who is hoping to improve on his performance at CCS last year, said he is enjoying the revamped team.
“It’s a lot different from last year,” Velasquez said. “It’s nice because it’s my last year. The track is nice, it’s beautiful.”
Hurdlers Stephanie Glenn and Miles Amodeo, sprinters Vera and Steven Heisey, jumper Megan McAvoy and distance runner Kathleen Miller also had solid debuts. McAvoy swept all three jumping events – high jump, long jump and triple jump – while freshman Vera swept the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
“I didn’t want to do track but my friends said I should,” said Vera, who just finished a season with the Gilroy varsity girls soccer team. “It felt great (to win).”
Glenn and Amodeo each won both hurdle events. Heisey edged out San Benito’s Jeff Weltz, a returning CCS qualifier, in the 200. The sophomore also took second in the 400. In the 3200-meter run, freshman Miller (12:40.43) held on to beat junior Dana Bealsley (12:41.36) of San Benito in another close race.
“Overall, we’re looking to finish above .500 in dual meets,” Myers said. “Our big thing is to get better.”
The Gilroy track and field team competes tomorrow at the K-Bell Invite at Los Gatos.
Gilroy/San Benito Dual Meet Results
Girls Varsity: San Benito 64, Gilroy 63
Boys Varsity: San Benito 80, Gilroy 56
Girls JV: San Benito 115, Gilroy 19
Boys JV: San Benito 97, Gilroy 38
Gilroy’s First-Place Finishes
Girls
100m hurdles – Stephanie Glenn, 20.49
100m – Ariana Vera, 13.56
300m hurdles – Stephanie Glenn, 58.62
200m – Ariana Vera, 28.86
3200m – Kathleen Miller, 12:40.43
Long Jump – Megan McAvoy, 14-5 3/4
Triple Jump – Megan McAvoy, 33-0
High Jump – Megan McAvoy, 4-10
Boys
400m relay – Gilroy, 48.04
1600m – Arnulfo Velasquez, 4:43.75
110m hurdles – Miles Amodeo, 17.14
300m hurdles – Miles Amodeo, 44.69
200m – Steven Heisey, 24.24
Shot put – Bobby Best, 50-8
Discus – Bobby Best, 144-4
