SALINAS—After a couple of near-misses, the San Benito High boys cross-country team is state-bound once again.
Last Saturday, the Haybalers finished in third place in the Division I race of the Central Coast Section Championships at Toro Park, earning a berth to the CIF State Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park on Nov. 29.
This is believed to be the third time San Benito has advanced to the state meet, but perhaps none was as sweet as this one. After coming agonizingly close in two of the last three years—the Balers fell one spot short in 2011 and 2013—they reached running nirvana this season with a lineup that had quality runners at each position.
A program rich in tradition, San Benito won the Division I team title in 2003 and has been runner-up two other times to go along with several other top-5 finishes.
Even with former Balers standout Steven Velarde last year, they finished 30 points behind Homestead for the third and final spot to state. Velarde, who is now running at Chico State, finished fifth overall in a strong time of 15:44.
However, this year’s squad returned everyone else and maintained its superior depth, and it was just enough to edge out—you guessed it, Homestead—for the final berth to state. San Benito had 121 points to 132 for Homestead, which wasn’t as strong as it was a year ago.
This year, San Benito’s individual placers went 12th (Elijah Changco), 13th (Juan Gutierrez), 22nd (Rene Nunez), 29th (Jose Ruiz), and 45th (Nolan Sanchez).
Changco (16:15) and Gutierrez (16:17) both established PRs by 11 seconds, and they were both confident they would come through in the biggest race of their careers.
However, Changco said it was the clutch running of Nunez that proved to be perhaps the most instrumental factor in the Balers edging out Homestead. A senior who had never run on the team until this year, Nunez clocked a 16:40—not a PR but a tremendous effort nonetheless—to get the team valuable points.
“I’m so glad he came out to run this year because he was the key player for us,” Changco said. “At the beginning of the season, I knew he would be on the varsity, but I didn’t think he’d end up being our third or fourth (placing) guy. He was a miracle because you just don’t see guys running 16s in their first year. He ran track at the end of last year, and all of a sudden, things started happening. It’s a credit to him for putting in the time and coming up with great races this year.”
In the event of a tie, things are decided by a team’s sixth-place finisher, and in rare cases, the seventh. San Benito would’ve been in excellent hands in either scenario, as Javier Azcona and Jacob Morioka finished in 49th and 53rd, respectively.
“We knew we could reach state from Day One, and that feeling gave everyone motivation to improve in every race,” Changco said.
Gutierrez said the team was mentally and physically prepared to meet its goal of reaching state.
“We’ve been ready,” he said. “The team felt good, and I know I felt good. Elijah and I wanted to stay near the lead group, and we both had good kicks at the end knowing we had to seal the deal for state. It’s amazing—we finally get to live out our dream.”
