Gilroy’s hopes of capturing a Tri-County Athletic League title
in varsity girls’ track took a hit Tuesday in the league trials
held at North Salinas High School, but the frosh-soph boys came
away with an excellent opportunity to run the table at Friday’s
TCAL Championships being held Friday at 4 p.m. in Gilroy at
Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
SALINAS – Gilroy’s hopes of capturing a Tri-County Athletic League title in varsity girls’ track took a hit Tuesday in the league trials held at North Salinas High School, but the frosh-soph boys came away with an excellent opportunity to run the table at Friday’s TCAL Championships being held Friday at 4 p.m. in Gilroy at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
Keeping a slew of freshmen and sophomore boys out of the varsity preliminaries was a conscious decision by the GHS coaching staff despite a near certainty that some of those individuals would have qualified for the varsity finals and even had a chance to advance to the Central Coast Section trials being held Saturday, May 23, in Gilroy.
“I want the kids to have a lot of success at the end of the season,” Gilroy coach Jeff Myers said. “We’re trying to win a frosh-soph championship and have as many league records as possible.
“I’d rather finish on a positive note. They’ve competed as a group all year long and I wanted them to finish as a group.”
Sophomore sprinters such as Julius and Romeo Travis, as well as thrower Chima Ikema and pole vaulter Eric Martinez look like good bets to push for individual TCAL titles after qualifying at or near the top in Tuesday’s meet, which, if things follow suit Friday, would help propel the Mustangs as a whole to a team title. Freshman Jourdan Soares continued to show his versatility by taking second in the 100 and third in the high jump.
The Travis brothers, Soares and Ronnie Short, who was held out of competition Tuesday due to injury but will likely compete Friday, are the favorites to win the 4×100 relay, Myers said.
Senior Peter Guenther kept up his pursuit of TCAL titles in the 110 and 300 hurdles by taking first in his heats for both events, which could pave the way for the Mustang to challenge for CCS titles in the events two weeks later when the section championships are held May 29 in Gilroy. Despite having an excellent opportunity to challenge in the straight sprints for TCALs and CCS, Guenther skipped the 100, 200 and 400 in an effort to focus on the hurdles.
“Peter has got both the 110 and 300 (hurdles) to look at seriously,” Myers said. “At this time you don’t start adding events, you start dropping events.”
Fellow varsity boys’ runner Juan Velasquez, a junior, was able to qualify for the 800 and 1,600.
Sarah Unadia was impressive in the 100 and 300 hurdles, as well as the high jump, taking first in her heats for the first two events and reaching the qualification mark in the latter event on her first attempt.
“Sarah did fantastic. She had some great hurdles races,” Myers said.
Gilroy’s coach also applauded the efforts of Rachel Smith in the triple jump, Kim Johnson and Porsha Lowe in the discus, and Athena Alarcon and Kathleen Miller in the 1,600.
The varsity girls did have some disappointing results, none more than the disqualification of Lindsey Foster in the long jump, Myers said. Clearly crossing the line on her first and third attempts, Gilroy’s coach disputed a ruling on her second jump, which would have placed her first among qualifiers. Foster was about three inches across the line in first attempt but measured a jump of 17 feet, five inches. The mark would have placed her in the top five of the entire section for recorded measurements so far this season, Myers said.
“She was about three inches over the first time, made an adjustment, and she wasn’t over on the second, but they called it,” Myers said. “There was no way that (second jump) was a foul.
“The last time she was an inch over, so it was unfortunate.”
The Mustangs will also be without Elise Ogle, who took ninth in the 1,600 to qualify for Friday, but will not compete due to illness. Rachel Smith is another Mustang who will absent. Losing time by clipping the last hurdle in the 100, Smith finished 11th.
“We’re not as strong as we could have been,” Myers said. “We’re definitely going to see what happens, but when you lose some people it hurts a little bit.”
For full results from Tuesday’s meet, go to: http://www.dyestatcal.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2009/tcal_tr.htm
