The Balers cross-country teams breezed past Salinas on Monday at
the Baler River Course at San Benito High.
All five runners from the boys squad beat the times of Salinas
to run away with a victory.
The Balers cross-country teams breezed past Salinas on Monday at the Baler River Course at San Benito High.
All five runners from the boys squad beat the times of Salinas to run away with a victory.
Senior Said Hernandez and R.J. Collins tied for the fastest time – both finishing at 17:21. The Balers’ Steven Velarde, Ricardo Esqueda and Omar Vasquez finished off the strong run from the Balers, beating Salinas’ top runner Bryan Tena by nearly 15 seconds.
Overall, the Balers won with a final combined time of 1:27:07 – more than six minutes faster than Salinas’ time of 1:33:15.
On the girls’ side, the Balers’ Vanessa Estrada, Maura Forbush and Amy Quinones paced the race finishing in the top three spots. Once again, Estrada finished with the fastest time at 19:23, nearly two minutes faster than Forbush, who finished second with a time of 21:31.
Quinones finished right behind Forbush with a time of 21:47.
The top runner for Salinas, Leah Meuter, finished a distant fourth with a time of 22:32.
Overall, the Balers won the contest finishing with at combined time of 1:48:53 – nearly 10 minutes faster than Salinas’ score of 1:57:38.
The Balers travel to the Stanford Invitational on Saturday in Palo Alto.
Tennis
Thanks to a dominate performance from the team’s top four singles players, the Baler moved their winning streak to three matches by beating Alvarez 5-2 at the Ridgemark golf center. The win evens up the Balers’ record at 3-3.
The team’s top four singles players – Ally Triolo, Audrey Marshall, Kelsey Slavich and Amanda Alvarez – all won in straight sets.
Triolo started the match off well for the Balers with a 6-3, 6-2 straight set win. Marshall followed with a quick 6-2, 6-0 victory.
But the Balers did struggle in the doubles – dropping two out of their three matches. San Benito’s one doubles win, though, was a hard fought battle.
Annie Tobias and Makenzie Miguel battled with the Alvarez top doubles pair, sending the match to a tie-breaking third set.
The Baler pair eventually pulled away with a 10-5 set and match victory.
“It was a long, tough match,” head coach Ed Cecena said. “It was a good doubles match.”
The tennis team travels to Christopher on Thursday.
Volleyball
The San Benito girls volleyball team dropped a tough match Tuesday to North Salinas in five sets as the Balers continued their early season struggles.
Things looked bright early for the Balers after they won the first set 25-15, but the Balers quickly dropped the second set 25-18.
The Balers would take a 2-1 overall lead with a third set victory, but the Balers couldn’t pull off another win – dropping the last two sets.
San Benito hosts Salinas on Thursday.
Water Polo
The Balers split their road matches Tuesday at San Lorenzo Valley High School. The boy’s team continued its early-season offensive show, blowing away San Lorenzo Valley 14-5. The girls team dropped its game 16-7.
The boys squad got off to a fast start by scoring six goals in the opening quarter. Jacob Garcia scored a game-high four goals during the contest. Teammates Jaret Barrios and Carlos Huerta each added three more for the Balers.
Both teams host games Thursday at San Benito High.
This week’s San Benito Score
