‘Baler cross country solid at Earlybird Invitational
Salinas – In their first meet of the year, the San Benito boys’ and girls’ cross country teams served notice that they will again be among the top teams in the Central Coast Section. The ‘Baler boys combined to finish fourth at the Earlybird Invitational at Toro Park on Saturday, while the Lady ‘Balers took fifth in the girls’ varsity competition.
A year after the San Benito girls and boys finished third and fourth, respectively, in the section’s Division I championships, the ‘Balers used the meet that had many heavy-hitter teams present to re-establish themselves as one of the top overall programs.
“It was pretty good for our first race,” San Benito girls’ coach Josh Morales said of the entire team’s showing. “It’s only going to get better.”
Rigo Vasquez enjoyed the top day for ‘Baler runners, finishing with the ninth-best time among the 941 male contestants. With the boys running in races divided by class, Vasquez took third in the seniors’ race at 16:08.
Adrian Rodriguez, a sophomore, also enjoyed third-place honors for the ‘Balers, running a 16:18 race. Rodriguez finished 14th overall among the boys.
In the combined boys’ category consisting of 44 teams, San Benito trailed only Madera, Los Gatos and Carlmont. Madera’s five-best runners gave the team a time of 1:22:18 to finish first, while the ‘Balers took fourth in 1:23:46.
In addition to Vasquez and Rodriguez, Eddie Trujillo (16:45), Adrian’s brother Erik Rodriguez (17:00) and Lance Villasenor (17:35) helped the ‘Balers to their strong finish.
The San Benito boys also fared particularly well in the sophomores’ race, taking second behind St. Ignatius in the 20-team race. Adrian (2) and Erik (8) Rodriguez led the charge, with Villasenor (14) and Morris Stevens (18) close behind.
“They did awesome,” Morales said of the sophomore boys. “The (boys’) team looks really strong right now, a very young team.”
For the Lady ‘Balers, Courtney Allen finished 16th among the 630 girls, who were divided into varsity and frosh/soph races. The sophomore led San Benito’s varsity team by running the Toro Park course in 20:18. “She’s right on pace to do really good this year,” Morales said. “She’s looking really good.”
With 189 total points, San Benito finished behind Carlmont (73), Carmel (151), North Monterey (164) and Monta Vista (184) in the 33-team girls’ varsity competition.
“It’s really impressive,” Morales said of the young ‘Baler girls’ team’s performance. “We’re really striving after Monta Vista and Carlmont right now. We’re right behind (Monta Vista), so we should be pushing them at CCS.”
Freshman AnnMari Rich finished second among the Lady ‘Balers at 20:48, while senior Dana Balsley (21:01) and juniors Lauren Villasenor (21:30) and Sandy Meza (21:43) rounded out the team’s showing.
