As the clock ticks to 3:15, the first members of the boys and
girls Gilroy High School cross country teams begin to trickle into
the open shed tucked away behind the home-team bleachers at the
back of the football field of Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
It’s another 90-plus degree scorcher and the runners take solace
in a few minutes of cool shade as they apply sunscreen to their
faces, arms and legs.
The extreme conditions are nothing new to them and are a small
obstacle in a sport that produces as many mental barriers as it
does physical roadblocks. They leave the shed chatting it up with
one another, smiling and laughing as they head toward the track for
warm-ups.
GILROY – As the clock ticks to 3:15, the first members of the boys and girls Gilroy High School cross country teams begin to trickle into the open shed tucked away behind the home-team bleachers at the back of the football field of Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
It’s another 90-plus degree scorcher and the runners take solace in a few minutes of cool shade as they apply sunscreen to their faces, arms and legs.
The extreme conditions are nothing new to them and are a small obstacle in a sport that produces as many mental barriers as it does physical roadblocks. They leave the shed chatting it up with one another, smiling and laughing as they head toward the track for warm-ups.
“A lot of the days they run it will be 105, 110 degrees,” said head coach Art Silva. “I just tell them they have to go to their happy spot in their minds.”
Art and Catherine Silva took over the cross country team in 2004 and lifted a program, which had seven boys and no girls at the time, to a team that has 43 athletes this season (28 boys and 15 girls).
Their passion for teaching, motivating and good old fashion fun resonates through their rambunctious runners. And although the two’s pairing as co-head coaches came upon as sort of an “accident” the recent success of the Mustangs’ cross country program is far from accidental.
“They love to eat and we feed them,” Art said jokingly about why so many kids have joined the team the last couple of seasons. “We believe in the family unit. It doesn’t matter if you’re the top runner or the one that isn’t quite there yet, they all do the same distance. A little encouragement goes a long way.”
Whether it’s for the pancakes before a race, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a snack or a second straight Tri-County Athletic League championship, these kids are hungry.
With back-to-back top-three finishes at the Central Coast Section championships and an appearance by the girls team in last year’s California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championship held in Fresno, the consensus among the coaches and athletes is that they want more – and they are conditioned for the long haul.
“They want to run, they are working hard and their mindset is more positive,” Catherine said. “This year they are coming in mentally strong as well as physically strong, which I think will give us the edge.”
The most noticeable change from last season is the offseason regimen many of the boys put themselves through to get in shape for this year.
“I told everyone they should run during the summer,” said senior Juan Velasquez. “What I usually did was run between six to nine miles in the morning almost every day. I feel pretty good right now. I worked on what I needed to work on to get stronger.”
Velasquez figures to be one of the Mustangs’ top runners on the boys’ side along with junior Tim Williams and sophomore Kyle Collett, who posted his career-best 18:01 at the TCAL finals last year.
Collett has already shaved 46 seconds off of his three-mile time, Art said.
The girls are led by seniors Paty Hernandez and Brandie Rodriguez, and sophomores Athena Alarcon and Savannah Silacci.
All four runners placed in the top 15 at CCS, with Alarcon clocking a 20:31 for a ninth-place showing.
The Mustangs begin the season at the TCAL Jamboree on Sept. 9 at Toro Park in Salinas.
