The San Benito Haybalers were all bunched together and Lady
‘Baler Courtney Allen set a personal record at the Stanford
Invitational on Saturday.
The San Benito Haybalers were all bunched together and Lady ‘Baler Courtney Allen set a personal record at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday.
In one of the largest cross country meets of the season, the ‘Balers finished 15th overall, while the Lady ‘Balers took 16th.
“Mostly all of the schools from California are therae,” said girls coach Josh Morales. “After that, the colleges then run, so it’s a big invitational.”
Adrian Rodriguez led the ‘Balers with a time of 17:11, and five of the remaining six San Benito runners finished the 3.1-mile race within 48 seconds.
“They looked good. We’re getting better by the day,” said boys coach Jess Morales. “The positive thing about this is that we’re real tight. I take my hat off by the way they stayed together as a team.”
After Rodriguez finished 54th overall, Lance Villasenor took 75th (17:22), Frankie Rivera was in 93rd (17:33), Eduardo Guzman finished 105th (17:45), Erik Rodriguez crossed in 110th (17:48), Jose Castillo nabbed 122nd (17:59) and Andrew Yacovone rounded out San Benito in 166th (18:30).
With Carlmont, Bellarmine and Serra challenging San Benito for a top-two spot in the Central Coast Section, Morales sees the gap closing among the teams. As a team, Serra was 14th overall and Bellarmine was 7th overall.
“Hopefully, by the end of the season, we’ll be right up against them,” Jess said. “We’re going the right way to try to work together as a team.”
As for the Lady ‘Balers, Allen PR’ed with an eighth-place overall finish at the Stanford Invitational, clocking a 19:04. Coach Josh Morales believes it’s just a matter of time before she breaks the 18-minute mark.
“Hopefully, by the end of the year, we’ll get her into the 18s,” Josh said. “She’s really close.”
Vanessa Farias finished 70th overall (21:18), Elizabeth Moreno took 127th (22:27), Dayna Casillas finished 141st (22:41), Kristina Vasquez took 145th (22:50), Linnea Shorey was in 177th (24:06) and Sandy Meza took 183rd (24:25).
“We’re starting to look a little better,” Josh said. “We had two freshman and one sophomore run that race, so there was a lot of new people.”
In fact, only Allen, Moreno and Vasquez has participated in the invite before.
San Benito will head to Clovis for a meet on Saturday.
Boys Teams
1 – Willow Glen, 81:58
15 – San Benito, 87:39
*40 teams ranked
Haybalers
57 – Adrian Rodriguez, 17:11, junior
75 – Lance Villasenor, 17:22, junior
93 – Frankie Rivera, 17:33, junior
105 – Eduardo Guzman, 17:45, frosh
110 – Erik Rodriguez, 17:48, junior
122 – Jose Castillo, 17:59, frosh
166 – Andrew Yacovone, 18:30, senior
Girls Team
1 – Carlmont, 95:55
16 – San Benito, 108:20
*30 teams ranked
Lady ‘Balers
8 – Courtney Allen, 19:04, junior
70 – Vanessa Farias, 21:18, junior
127 – Elizabeth Moreno, 22:27, junior
141 – Dayna Casillas, 22:41, frosh
145 – Kristina Vasquez, 22:50, soph
177 – Linnea Shorey, 24:06, frosh
183 – Sandy Meza, 24:25, senior
