It’s not every day that high school athletes get the opportunity
to compete against their peers from overseas. But it happened on
Tuesday for the San Benito High cross country team as The Auckland
Grammar School Distance Squad Tour Of America 2005 came to town for
a friendly race against Hollister, Madera and North County at Park
Hill.
Hollister – It’s not every day that high school athletes get the opportunity to compete against their peers from overseas. But it happened on Tuesday for the San Benito High cross country team as The Auckland Grammar School Distance Squad Tour Of America 2005 came to town for a friendly race against Hollister, Madera and North County at Park Hill.
“It’s pretty hot,” said Auckland Grammar coach Rodney Gordon before the start of Tuesday’s races. “Not what we’re used to. At home right now, it’s about 16 degrees celsius so about 60 fahrenheit. But we’ve been having a great time so far. Hollister has a good cross country, very busy. They race a lot. Saturday at Stanford, yesterday against Gilroy and then again today which is far more than we race.”
The conditions were rough for the members of the New Zealand squad, but they still managed to pull off a one-two victory as Matthew Mildenhall and James Fisher, both of whom are ranked among the top five distance runners in all of New Zealand prep sports, were first across the finish line.
But Hollister’s Rigo Vasquez, running for the third time in four days, put together an incredible race. Vasquez bested a field of talent from the top-notch Madera squad as well as the North County team to not only finish just behind Mildenhall and Fisher in third, but to set a new personal-best time at Park Hill with a 16:46.
“I’m tired,” said an obviously exhausted Vasquez after the race. “But, it’s been a lot of fun to hang out with (the Auckland team). They’re cool guys.”
Competing in a non-scoring race against her counterparts from Madera and North County, Hollister’s Amanda Boyd could have taken it easy on Tuesday, especially seeing as how she also ran at Stanford on Saturday and then in Gilroy on Monday in a meet that Hollister won on both the boys’ and the girls’ side.
It doesn’t look like the term “take it easy” is a phrase Boyd is familiar with. On Tuesday, she quickly left the field behind her and, by the halfway point in the race, Boyd was running up front all alone and well ahead of the pack.
“I don’t know. Once I get on the course, I can’t go slow,” said Boyd.
The San Benito High cross country team is back in action this Saturday when it hits the road to face Madera.
