By LeAnn Shea Staff Writer
San Jose – Two Gilroy Mustang athletes raised the bar on Saturday at the Central Coast Section track and field semifinals in San Jose, earning spots at the CCS championships and a chance to grab a slot at the state championships.
Seniors Bobby Best (discus and shot put) and Miles Amodeo (300 intermediate hurdles) will be aiming for state meet qualifying marks this Friday.
Best, who is headed to Cal Poly next year, finished fifth in the discus (159-6 feet) and eighth in the shotput (50-11.25). Amodeo finished with the eighth-best time in the 300 meter hurdles (41.14) to advance. With his best time of the season, Amodeo knocked out league rival LJ Lumpkin of Palma, who finished ninth.
The San Benito Haybalers had seven athletes perform well enough to qualify for the Finals on Friday.
‘Baler seniors Amanda Boyd, Jackie Perrien, Jeff Weltz and Todd Merrigan, along with juniors Rigo Vasquez and Josh Schroder and sophomore Anthony De La Cerda stepped up their games and advanced.
Merrigan placed second in the pole vault with a height of 15-6, one inch higher than his school record-breaking jump of 15-5 at the Tri-County Athletic League championship last week. Schroder will join Merrigan in the pole vault event at the Finals as his fifth place jump of 14-6 earns him a slot.
Senior standout Boyd qualified for the finals in both the 1600 (5:05.14) with the fourth-best time and the 3200 (11:30.63) with the ninth-best time, and nearly helped San Benito’s 4×100 relay team to a qualifying time (:51.60). At last week’s TCAL Finals, Boyd broke CCS records in both the 1600 and 3200, as well as the 800 and will be looking to qualify for the state meet once again.
Perrien had CCS finals qualifying performances in both the shotput (35-6.5) and the discus (107-00) to earn her first trip to the finals. Weltz continues to gain momentum and qualified for a trip to the CCS Finals in both the 100-meter (11.07) and the 200-meter (22.70) dashes.
Vasquez earned a spot in the finals in the 1600 (4:28.55), finishing with the 11th-best time at the semis.
De La Cerda advanced for the ‘Balers in the high jump event with a mark of 6-0.
