Boys varsity looks forward to taking on the Salinas High
Cowboys
After beating San Benito High School a little over a month ago,
the Salinas High School cross country team has avoided going
head-to-head with the Balers at any of the multi-team invitational
meets that both schools have competed in during recent weeks, and
it’s become somewhat frustrating to Baler head boys varsity coach
Jess Morales.
”
They beat us at home and it left us with a bad taste in our
mouths,
”
he said.
”
They’ve been at a number of invitationals with us since, but we
usually run in the championship races and they run in the varsity
races. When we’ve switched it around and run varsity they’ve gone
up to championship. I guess we won’t get the showdown that we want
until league finals.
”
Boys varsity looks forward to taking on the Salinas High Cowboys
After beating San Benito High School a little over a month ago, the Salinas High School cross country team has avoided going head-to-head with the Balers at any of the multi-team invitational meets that both schools have competed in during recent weeks, and it’s become somewhat frustrating to Baler head boys varsity coach Jess Morales.
“They beat us at home and it left us with a bad taste in our mouths,” he said. “They’ve been at a number of invitationals with us since, but we usually run in the championship races and they run in the varsity races. When we’ve switched it around and run varsity they’ve gone up to championship. I guess we won’t get the showdown that we want until league finals.”
The Tri County Athletic League finals takes place Saturday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. at Toro Park in Salinas.
“We’ll go down there and take care of what we need to then,” said Morales, whose team has gone undefeated since losing the league opener to the Cowboys.
Currently, the boys’ varsity squad is 6-1 while the girls’ team is 3-3.
On Monday, both squads wrapped up the regular season in the TCAL at Gilroy High where the boys’ team beat the Mustangs 22-33 on the 3.1-mile Christmas Hill Park course. The Baler girls, however, lost by a 19-34 margin, which wasn’t so difficult of a pill to swallow for Morales, a member of Gilroy High’s Class of 1974.
“I actually told their coach that I was pleased to see the Gilroy program coming up,” he said. “My old coach Avis Kelly came out to watch the race too. It was nice. We won three of six races and they won three of six.”
The three races that the Balers won were the boys’ varsity and junior varsity races and the frosh/soph girls’ event.
Gilroy’s Derek Pesta, who crossed the finish line with a time of 16:29, won the boys’ varsity race. The Balers then followed suit by crossing the line second through fifth, to earn enough points to capture the dual meet.
The first Baler to cross the finish line was Adrian Rodriguez, who did so with a mark of 16:41. Frankie Rivera followed Rodriguez at 16:59. Lance Villasenor followed him at 17:03 and Jose Castillo (17:08).
“It went well. I was pleased to see our boys run so aggressively,” Morales said.
The final two Balers to cross the finish line were Erik Rodriguez, who finished eighth with a time of 17:16. Curtis Wright finished 11th with a time of 17:37.
On the girls’ side, Courtney Allen crossed the finish line with a season-best time of (18:59) but it wasn’t to surpass Gilroy’s Kathleen Miller pace-setting time of 18:31.
Although Allen’s time was impressive, unfortunately a herd of Mustangs would cross the finish line next to take spots three through six to seal the victory.
The remaining Balers to cross the finish line were: Vanessa Farias (21:04, seventh), Kristina Vasquez (21:36, ninth), Dayna Casillas (21:44, 10th), Elizabeth Moreno (21:57, 11th), and Grace Tobias (22:41, 13th).
