Six Gilroy athletes will be fighting for the chance to compete
once more on their home track when the Central Coast Section
semifinals begin at 11am today at San Jose City College.
Six Gilroy athletes will be fighting for the chance to compete once more on their home track when the Central Coast Section semifinals begin at 11am today at San Jose City College.
The top finishers in each event advance to the finals May 25 at Gilroy High.
Freshman Elise Ogle is one Mustang who looks to have a strong shot at tackling the home course again. She broke her own school record when she ran a time of 5:10.14 at the Tri-County Athletic League championships last week at Gilroy.
That was only good enough for second, as San Benito’s Courtney Allen raced home in 5:08.61, but Ogle will hope for a top-12 finish to advance. The top 12 in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters move on to the finals, while the top eight in all other events advance.
Senior Megan McAvoy would also like one more shot to compete at home. In order to advance, the league champion in the girls high jump will likely have to better her performance from the TCAL finals when she cleared 4-11.
Freshman Sarah Unadia, the only other Mustang to win a league title, goes off in the first heat of the 100 hurdles. Sophomore Kathleen Miller, a state qualifier in cross country, competes in the second heat of the 3,200 and Ariana Vera is in the third heat of the 100 meters.
On the boys side, Marshod Johnson, who finished second at TCAL, competes in the triple jump where he’ll hope to top his qualifying mark of 41-7. Derek Pesta will run in the second heat of the 1,600 meters.
