San Benito sends slew of track athletes to TCAL Championships,
prepares to defend last year’s league titles
At the Tri-County Athletic League Trials, where the masses of track athletes is whittled to a select few, the object isn’t necessarily to take first – although it doesn’t hurt – but to simply finish as one of the top nine placers.
Surviving the TCAL Trials was on everyone’s to-do list Tuesday at North Salinas High School, where only those who found themselves as one of the lucky nine in each event earned a spot in Friday’s TCAL Championships at Gilroy High School.
When shooting for a top-nine finish is suddenly more important than taking first, the trials are a little bit backwards. But while a cut of nine competitors per event may seem only slightly illogical, it was just perfect for San Benito’s Chelsea Emilio.
A sophomore, Emilio clocked a personal record of 65.87 in the 400 meters Tuesday to nab ninth place and a TCAL-final berth, edging Salinas’ Devon Cravens by less than two-tenths of a second.
“I really didn’t think [I’d qualify],” Emilio said. “I was surprised. It was tough competition. This is my first year on varsity … but I pushed it a little today.”
Joining Emilio from Tuesday will be a whopping 36 teammates (17 girls, 19 boys) from San Benito, not including the competitors in the pole vault, the 3,200, the girls 800 and all the relay teams, who automatically advanced to Friday due to a lack of competitors.
While the ‘Balers are certainly not short on numbers, come Friday, the focus will be off top-nine status and will be reverted back to finishing with a top spot in order to advance to next week’s Central Coast Section meet.
“We’re definitely stronger than we were last year,” coach Iran White said. “We’ll score a lot of points and get a lot of places, but what places remain to be seen. If they go out like we know they can, we should handle everyone pretty handily.”
Kelsey Russell scored a top-nine finish and then some on Tuesday. The San Benito junior took first in the 100 at 13.29 and seventh in the long jump at 14-03, making her just one of 15 ‘Balers from Tuesday that qualified in multiple events.
“I probably could have done a little better,” Russell said. “My start was kind of bad … I wasn’t as gassed as I should have been.”
As an added wrinkle to the meet, the short-distance running events at the trials used starting blocks that were not anchored to the ground. As a result, other athletes had to sit behind the blocks and hold them in place when the race started, making a push off the blocks less than ideal.
Mitchell Cook snuck into the TCAL finals in the 100 meters after he recorded an 11.90 and finished in ninth place, but he too noted the difficult start.
“I did okay, but not as well as I wanted to. I came off the start a little slow,” he said. “It wasn’t a terrible thing, but it does mess you up a little bit.”
Silas DeVries will help make up a San Benito monopoly in the 400 meters, where four ‘Balers qualified for nine spots. DeVries, who will return to the TCAL Championships in the 400, grabbed a ninth-place finish in 53.16.
“I knew it was gonna be close, but if I gave it my all, I knew I had a chance to make it,” he said.
The 400 wasn’t the only event San Benito had a stranglehold on. The boys long jump included four qualifiers, while the girls 1,600, 100 hurdles, high jump and discus, as well as the boys 1,600, high jump and triple jump all included at least three qualifiers for Friday’s final.
Long distance coach Jess Morales was proud of the combined six qualifiers in the 1,600, including Courtney Allen, Vanessa Farias, Ana Rosa Duarte, Frankie Rivera, Jose Castillo and Eddie Guzman.
“I’m excited that they made it,” Morales said. “They stepped it up.”
San Benito will look to step it up once again and defend their TCAL titles from last year, not to mention finish with a CCS-qualifying place. Only the top three boys and the top two girls in each event advance to the CCS Semifinals.
“I’ll hopefully get down to the 52’s on Friday,” DeVries said. “I know it’s gonna be really hard to make it (to CCS), but I’ll just try and dig down real deep.”
Gilroy is hosting the TCAL Championships at the Garcia-Elder Sports Complex Friday. Field events begin at 4 p.m., while running events begin at 5 p.m.
TCAL Trials, Qualifiers Only
GIRLS
100 – 1, K. Russell, 13.29; 7, S. Coelho, 13.71. 200 – 8, M. Bishop, 28.52. 400 – 3, M. Cortez, 62.95; 9, C. Emilio, 65.87. 1,600 – 1, C. Allen, 5:26.53; 6, V. Farias, 5:37.13; 7, A. Duarte, 5:40.65. 100 hurdles – 4, L. Villagomez, 17.57; 6, A. Banuelos, 17.72; 7, E. Dungy, 17.86. 300 hurdles – 6, E. Gonzalez, 52.54; 9, E. Dungy, 53.77. High jump – 1, L. Ademek, 4-06; 1, M. Garrett, 4-06; 1, E. Dungy, 4-06. Long jump – 2, L. Ademek, 14-08 1/2; 7, K. Russell, 14-03. Triple jump – 7, E. Gonzalez, 30-08; 8, C. Freitas, 30-07. Shot put – 1, L. Yoldi, 36-03; 5, S. Yoldi, 32-03. Discus – 2, S. Yoldi, 105-06; 5, J. Temperino, 94-02; 9, L. Yoldi, 89-09.
BOYS
100 – 5, C. Koroluk, 11.61; 9, M. Cook, 11.90. 200 – 2, J. Taylor, 23.26; 5, R. Shorey, 23.44. 400 – 1, R. Shorey, 50.84; 6, N. Soza, 52.64; 8, I. Bambrick, 52.97; 9, S. DeVries, 53.16. 800 – 3, A. Smith, 2:03.83; 6, I. Bambrick, 2:08.23. 1,600 – 3, F. Rivera, 4:41.88; 5, J. Castillo, 4:46.40; 6, E. Guzman, 4:48.79. 110 hurdles – 2, A. Schmidt, 15.70; 4, E. McFadden, 16.48. 300 hurdles – 3, A. Schmidt, 41.75; 6, E. McFadden, 42.60. High jump – 1, J. Taylor, 5-08; 1, M. Flores, 5-08; 9, W. Evans, 5-06. Long jump – 1, A. Schmidt, 21-01; 3, C. Koroluk, 20-09; 4, J. Taylor, 20-08; 8, J. Bryant, 18-10. Triple jump – 5, C. Koroluk, 39-10; 6, J. Bryant, 39-08 1/4; 9, W. Evans, 37-10. Shot put – 3, W. Jacobson, 43-10 1/2; 6, M. Murphy, 40-08 1/2. Discus – 1, F. Martinez, 146-05; 6, M. Murphy, 122-01.
