SALINAS — One by one, teams from the San Benito High cross-country program hoisted up their trophies.
All five of them.
In an historic day for one of the Central Coast Section’s most consistent programs, the Haybalers won five of the six races contested in Saturday’s Monterey Bay League Cross-Country Championships at Toro Park.
San Benito won team titles at the boys and girls’ varsity and junior varsity levels, to go along with the boys’ frosh-soph championship.
“This is something you only dream about,” longtime San Benito boys’ coach Jess Morales said. “It means everything.”
CCS berths were on the line Saturday, and in addition to San Benito, the Christopher and Gilroy girls qualified their teams to the Nov. 16 CCS Championships at Crystal Springs in Belmont.
Christopher sophomore Jamie Boutte’ had the fifth best overall time in 20:05.20, and teammates Natalie Filippi (20.53.90) and Vicky Fox (22:08.80) finished in 10th and 28th, respectively, among both divisions. Gilroy freshman sensation Monica Ruelas finished the 3.0-mile course in 21:01.10, good for 11th place overall.
But the girls’ race was dominated by San Benito junior Amy Quinones, who built a huge lead at the halfway point before powering to the finish in a personal-record time of 19:20, bettering her previous PR by three seconds.
Just how dominant was Quinones? The second-place finisher, Salinas’ Malena Grover, finished over 32 seconds back. It was literally a dream performance for Quinones, who envisioned a moment like this from the time she joined the team.
“Winning league was a dream of mine from the start,” Quinones said. “After a lot of hard work, my dream came true.”
Making Quinones’ performance all the more impressive was the fact that she established her PR with no competition, essentially running by herself in the last half of the race.
“I felt strong all the way through,” she said. “I knew there would be a strong push (from the pack) in the first mile, and after that I had to crank it up before the hills. I’m hurting right now, but it feels good. At the beginning of the season, I had trouble finishing the last 800 (meters) of a race. But now I’m hitting my peak, and I feel I can still push the pace when I need to.”
The same can be said of the Christopher girls, who expressed plenty of confidence they could advance to CCS.
“We knew if we ran hard, we could make it as a team,” Fox said. “The race was difficult. If a lot of us do look like we’re going to pass out when we cross the finish line, it’s because we’re trying that hard.”
Filippi agreed: “We run hard in practice to try to make the races easier. But this race was hard, and it’s a great feeling we’re going to CCS.”
Ruelas didn’t feel great about her performance afterward, but she’ll have another chance to make a name for herself in the section championships.
“I don’t think I ran a good race,” Ruelas said. “I think it’s only my third time, maybe, racing here at Toro Park. I felt my training was good leading up to the race, and I felt better in the practices than I did today. But I feel good about the year I’ve had, and hopefully I’ll do better in my next race.”
San Benito edged out Salinas, 51-58, for the team championship. Katherine Monteon, Gabriella Alvarez, Anjelica Collins and Kassandra Ramos rounded out the Balers’ top five placers.
On the boys’ side, San Benito came away with a rather comfortable victory, with a low total of 43 points to beat Seaside’s 54. The Balers’ Steven Velarde finished second overall in 16:03.40, Jose Ruiz was fourth in 16:30.40 and Elijah Changco had the seventh best overall time in 16:45.60.
San Benito also received strong efforts from Juan Gutierrez, Javier Azcona and Johnny Corral, who all finished in the top 20 among the Gabilan runners. Other top local finishers included Gilroy’s Kairo Barrosa, who had the 30th best overall time and fourth among Pacific Division runners.
Gilroy, which finished second among the Pacific teams but eighth overall, had three additional runners finish among the top 13 from the Pacific Division: freshman Jonathan Viveros (ninth), junior Sean Kaufman (10th) and sophomore Jesus Sanchez (13th).
Freshman Sawyer Ciccone was the top Christopher runner, finishing 25th among Pacific runners. For San Benito, winning Saturday’s title was sweet redemption after it finished second to Alisal last year.
The charismatic Ruiz said he and his teammates were ready as they’ve ever been to run one of their best races of the season.
“These guys are my family, and I don’t let my family down,” said Ruiz, who immediately dropped to the ground upon finishing. “We had fun because we love to run. When it’s a 100 degrees during the summer in Hollister, we’re suffering because of days like this when we experience the feeling of winning. Our next goal is to go to state as a team.”
Said Morales: “Everyone put it together, and it showed. We always do good in the finals, peaking at the right moment. Give all the girls and boys credit for working hard, paying the price and making sacrifices for one another.”
