Balers all over Mustangs; Boys win 108-73, girls with the 110-36
rout over rivals
Gilroy – The San Benito High boys’ and girls’ swim teams continue to pick up steam as they pass the season’s midpoint. On Friday, both Baler squads picked up lopsided wins against Gilroy. The boys won 108-73 while the girls upended the competition by a wider margin with a score of 110-36.
“It was a really good meet for us, considering we’re at an away pool and the conditions aren’t that great,” said Hollister boys’ coach Leif Nordstrom. “The boys were really focused today.”
One of the Baler boys’ highlights from Friday was a sweep in the 100 fly, which saw Jamie Ashford finish first with a time of 1:00.09. Joel Smith finished in second and Josh Ward wrapped up the all-Hollister podium in third place, racking up a lot of points for the Haybalers in the process.
Other big performances for the Baler boys included Blane Curtice’s win in the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.31 and David Smith’s battles with Gilroy speedster Santiago Maciel in the 200 IM and in the 100 free.
Girls’ team captain Denise Simens competed for the first time this season with the Balers on Friday and, while she did establish some CCS times, she was subjected to some stress by the officials at the pool.
Simens had set her CCS time in the 200 IM early in the afternoon and was looking to do the same in the 100 breast.
Simens was well on pace late in the race, well ahead of the rest of the field, but when she got to the wall on the final lap, there was no one in her lane timing her.
Luckily though, the head scorekeeper at the event had been timing her run and marked her down for a time that qualifies for CCS.
“That was frustrating,” Simens aid. “Fortunately, somebody was watching. But I’m happy with our win in the relay.”
The 200 medley relay team of Kathryn Adamek, simens, Natalie Smith and Katie Buzzetta also posted a CCS time.
Valerie Britton’s time of 6:29.49 in the 500 free was her best this season and was good enough for a Hollister first place on Friday in Gilroy.
