Mustangs see where they stand among section’s best track and
field athletes
Los Gatos – They call the CCS Top 8 a preview of the CCS track and field championships. And when it’s over, those competing are usually glad the real meet is still a few weeks away.
After Friday’s Top 8 meet at Los Gatos High panned out, Gilroy best candidates for CCS success Bobby Best and Arnulfo Velasquez likely were two of them.
Best, who finished third in discus and sixth in shot put at last year’s Top 8 meet, took fifth in discus (147-05) and eighth in shot put (47-05). The marks were below the 150 and 50 marks the senior surpassed last week at the Hampton-Phillips Invite.
“It was not a great throwing day,” said Gilroy throwing coach Rich Martinez. “He’s not using his legs…He’s not driving it up to get the height.
“But he’s still got a long season ahead of him,” Martinez added.
Velasquez, who ran a personal best of 9:50 in the 3200 at Hampton-Phillips last week, suffered a setback in the sixth lap of his 3200-meter race Friday which slowed the senior down to a 10:05.26 finishing time, good for 12th place.
“I felt good, but then I started to get shin splints,” Velasquez said. “My shins started to hurt and I thought I might hurt myself.”
Gilroy did have its share of bright spots, however. Freshman distance runner Kathleen Miller had another big 20-second personal record in the 3200. Freshman Peter Guenther also had a PR in the frosh/soph 110 hurdles. He took third with a time of 10.10.
“He’s going to be something special,” Gilroy head coach Jeff Myers said. “Most freshmen can’t even hurdle.”
In high jump, junior Megan McAvoy cleared her personal-best height of 5-0 to tie for fifth place. She missed out on clearing the 5-2 mark, but Myers believes the junior will clear it before the season is over.
“This is like the sixth time I’ve attempted it at away and league meets and missed,” McAvoy said. “It’s kind of getting a little frustrating.”
Still, McAvoy said she has a better idea of where she stands in CCS as opposed to just the Tri-County Athletic League.
“This is my competition,” she said. “It shows what I actually have to work toward.”
One of the things she’s working toward is breaking the school’s high jump record, which is 5-5.
“Every week, we try to work on little things. Today, her approach was not quite on,” Myers said. “But I’m happy with the way she competed. In jumping, you have to make adjustments…She did what she had to do to really make those changes.”
The Mustangs are back in action today at the Bill Kearney Invitational at Hartnell College in Salinas. It was at last year’s Bill Kearney that Best threw a personal record 164 in discus.
“We’re hoping for another good day,” Martinez said.
