Boys, girls team finish on top at TCAL meet
Winning Tri County Athletic League championships is becoming an
old hat for the San Benito High track and field team.
Last Friday at Gilroy High’s Garcia-Elder Sports Complex the
Baler boys’ team captured its seventh league title in a row while
the girls team successfully defended its title for the second
time.
Boys, girls team finish on top at TCAL meet
Winning Tri County Athletic League championships is becoming an old hat for the San Benito High track and field team.
Last Friday at Gilroy High’s Garcia-Elder Sports Complex the Baler boys’ team captured its seventh league title in a row while the girls team successfully defended its title for the second time.
“It was pretty impressive,” head coach Iran White said. “The boys won by more than the second-place team scored. I’d say that’s pretty good.”
The team that was on the receiving end of the Balers clinic-like trouncing was Salinas High – the team the San Benito boys beat by a 154-74 margin.
While the boys’ team cruised to victory the girls’ squad was able to upstage North Salinas High by a 121-109 margin.
This Saturday the Balers will be back at Gilroy High again. This time they’ll be competing in the Central Coast Section trials. In all, 27 Baler athletes put up CCS qualifying marks to earn a trip to the Section meet – nine from the girls’ team and 18 from the boys’ squad.
The meet gets under way at 9:30 a.m. Only the top two TCAL finishers from the girls’ side and the top three from the boys’ side automatically advance to CCS, unless they attained a qualifying mark earlier in the season.
“This year, I definitely want to see the boys team finish in the top 10 at CCS,” White said. “Next year, we should be even stronger. The girls still need to build up the team a bit more before they can start thinking about winning CCS.”
No Baler team has ever won a CCS title.
At the league finals, a number of Balers had winning efforts. Junior Ryan Shorey captured the 400 meter race. Senior Austin Schmidt won both the long jump event and the 110 meter hurdles race.
“Ryan is coming along as expected,” White said. “He’s working hard. This is his first year as league champion as a junior, which is pretty good. Now we’ll see what he can do at CCS. Austin really stepped it up for us too.”
On the girls’ side, distance runner Courtney Allen – in typical fashion – picked up a win in the 1,600 meter race, was second in the 3,200 meter event and came in third in the 800 meter.
Sophomore Kelsey Russell also captured the 100 meter race with a time of 13.04 and discus thrower Sarah Yoldi hurled her disk 115 feet, 4 inches to win the league title and advance to the Section meet.
In addition to those that won their respective events at the TCAL championship, the following Baler athletes also earned trips to tomorrow’s Section trials/semifinals: Melisah Cortez (400), Natalie Becker (Pole vault), Meghan Delatorre (Pole vault), Monique Bishop (Pole vault), Lila Yoldi (Shot put), Frankie Rivera (1,600), Evan McFadden (110 hurdles), Jamil Taylor (High jump and Long jump), Bryan Gonzalez (Pole vault), Josh Godbout (Pole vault), Chris Koroluk (Long jump and Triple jump), Josh Bryant (Triple jump), Wade Jacobson (Shot put), and Frankie Martinez (Discus).
“I don’t know if we’re a dynasty, but we’re trying to work towards that,” said White, who has coached the boys’ team to five of its last seven league titles. “This is definitely the strongest team that I’ve had so far. The boys will be stronger next year, weaker in a few areas, but stronger in others because we have a lot of returnees. At CCS, the team to beat is going to be Los Gatos. I’m not expecting us to do that but I think we can finish into the top 10.”
