Girls sweep triple jump
to narrowly win; boys win all individual races
Sometimes a track meet is defined by a race, sometimes by an athlete and sometimes by an event.
The Baler girls track team won a tight match against Notre Dame, while the boys team doubled up Palma in a league match Wednesday.
The defining moment for the girls was when the team swept the triple jump for nine points. The meet was not decided until the results for the triple jump were posted right before the end of the meet.
The final score was 73.3-62.7.
Danielle Andrewson won the triple jump with a leap of 33′ 0″, followed by Leslie Schipper at 31′ 8″.
Amanda Boyd, stepping up to the 880 race, won in a time on Hollister’s track of 2:28.6. She also won the long jump.
Kristin Para won the 100 meters. Jamie O’Brian won the 220-yard dash. Michelle Sanchez finished first in the 440-yard race. Hollister won the discus.
The boys varsity team defeated Palma, 92-44. They won every race and one of the relays.
In one of the closest events of the day, Jess Rice just edged out Palma’s Lippincott Luke, who was ranked third in the Central Coast Section, in the 440-yard dash with a time of 51.89. Tamar Elbanhawy finished third for the Balers.
In the 220-yard dash, Rice and Chad Tungate dueled to the end with Rice winning with 23.57 to Tungate’s 23.58. Lippincott was a distant third.
The Baler boys pole vaulters won the pole vault, Ryan Sesody jumped a season’s best 12′ 6″ and Matt Wynne jumped 12′ 0″ for second.
The hurdles showed the strength of the Baler boys team. In the 110 high hurdles, Siljef Tabancay won with a time of 14.41, and John DiSalvo was right behind.
In the 330-yard intermediate hurdles, they reversed the finish, with DiSalvo winning in an impressive 41.61, and Tabancay getting second.
The Balers swept the long jump. John Ariaza won with a 20′ 11″ leap, followed by Tabancay and Sanchez.
Jonathan Rivera won the mile and half mile races, and the Balers won the two mile and high jump.
Eddie Merlo came in first at 100 meters, and the boys won the 4 by 110-yard relay. Chris Stephens won the discus.
The Baler JV girls won 95-41, and the the JV boys won 82-66.
The next action for both teams is this weekend. On Friday, some of the athletes will run in the Top 8 Invitational at Los Gatos, and the team will also run at Pacific Grove on Saturday.
On April 29, the teams will compete at Salinas during what could be the toughest meet of the year for both teams.
