Gilroy
– For local track and field aficionados, it doesn’t get any
better than this.
The 37th annual Avis Kelley Invitational brings 35 teams and
more than 1,000 athletes to Garcia-Elder Complex today for an event
that showcases some of the better individuals in Northern
California.
Gilroy – For local track and field aficionados, it doesn’t get any better than this.
The 37th annual Avis Kelley Invitational brings 35 teams and more than 1,000 athletes to Garcia-Elder Complex today for an event that showcases some of the better individuals in Northern California.
Unfortunately, North Salinas is the only one of the Salinas teams that will be participating in the event with the Alisal Invitational also on tap today. The Meet of Champions in Sacramento will keep some top athletes away as well.
And yet, as always, Avis Kelley will be able to stand on its own merits. Named for the legendary Gilroy High coach who is still a fixture at meets, the seeded competition gets under way at 8:30am. The invitational that begins at 6pm will be run similarly to the Central Coast Section finals that Gilroy will host May 25.
“It should be a lot of fun,” Mustang coach Jeff Myers said. “We’ve got a lot of good people everywhere.”
Leading the GHS contingent is freshman Elise Ogle, the school’s record-holder in the 1,600 and No. 2 seed in the invitational portion of the event. She will be joined by teammates Kathleen Miller and Paty Hernandez. Miller is also in the 3,200. Freshman Sarah Unadia is in both hurdles as well as the high jump. Ariana Vera will compete in the 100 and 200. Megan McAvoy is in the triple and high jumps. Brandie Rodriguez is in the 800 and 3,200.
Several long-standing records could be challenged.
On the boys side, Thomas Phillips of Bellarmine Prep in the 300 hurdles, Sebastian Sam of Oak Grove in the 800, and Josh Schroder of San Benito in the pole vault have bettered the standards set in 1985. In fact, Schroder has soared six inches higher than Mark Gibbons of Del Mar did.
On the girls side, Thea Lee of Carmel in the 800, Samntha Hamilton of Half Moon Bay in the 3,200, and Nha Dien Bui of Wilcox in the 100 hurdles have all bettered the standards in their events.
Among races that figure to be the more competitive, the boys 800 features five runners under two minutes. The boys 3,200 has six runners under 10 minutes.
