Hollister High had one one Central Coast Section champion and
one CCS runner-up at Friday’s Central Coast Section track and field
finals at San Jose City College.
SAN JOSE – Hollister High had one one Central Coast Section champion and one CCS runner-up at Friday’s Central Coast Section track and field finals at San Jose City College.
Senior Naomi Ruiz, the favorite going in, captured the discus with a mark of 132-2. Senior Stephanie Starritt was second in the pole vault with a PR of 11-4.
The pair combined for 18 of the team’s 19 points as the Baler girls finished in ninth place, 37 points behind first place Mt. Pleasant. Sophomore Jamie O’brian placed sixth in the 400-meters at 58.63 for the Balers’ other point.
The top three place finishers at CCS qualified for the CIF State Track and Field Meet this weekend at Cerritos Junior College. However, Ruiz seriously injured herself in Friday night’s Powder Puff football game – so much that she was carried off in an ambulance – and might not be able to perform at Cerritos.
The state meet qualifies entrants this Friday for Saturday’s finals. Ruiz has the 14th best qualifying mark for this weekend’s meet. Starritt has the 12th best. The top 9 performers on Friday qualify for the Saturday’s finals.
“Naomi would have an outside chance of making it to Saturday,” said Baler girls coach Jennifer Logue, who will meet with Ruiz this afternoon to determine Ruiz’ status. “Even so, going to state is what’s important so I hope she can go. I was proud of Naomi for winning because she led CCS in the event most of the year and she did what she had to do.”
Earlier in the year, Ruiz broke the school record of 126-2 formerly held by Susan Westfall set back in 1980. Ruiz, who set a PR of 138-7 at the Tri-County Athletic League meet, hurled her winning mark on her third throw. Her final two throws were below her norm.
“I really wanted to make my last two throws good,” said Ruiz. “I walked over to coach Logue with my head down and she said, ‘What’s wrong? You just won CCS. You should be happy.’ I’m happy I won. The other competitors did the best they could.”
Starritt’s clearance of 11-4 had a tiny wobble of the bar, but it stayed on. On her first attempt at 11-8, she had it cleared but hit the bar hard on the way down. Still, the bar, which recoiled at first, steadied for a brief moment, giving Starritt and her fans hope, before it slid off.
“I just knew I had to do it,” said a beaming Starritt, whose previous best mark was 11-0. “I wanted to go right out there and make things happen. The crowd that was rooting for me really helped.”
O’brian, who had hoped to be going to Cerritos, looked good til right after the final turn. At about that point, she slowly ran out of steam as a couple of runners passed her by.
“Jamie’s still learning the event,” said Logue. “She started out too slow in the trials and a little too fast in the finals. She just needs more experience.”
Another sophomore who gained some CCS experience was Dani Andrewson. Andrewson finished eighth in the TJ with a mark of 33-1 1/4. Junior hurdler Kory Case will also be back next year. Case was eighth in the 300-meter hurdles with a 47.25.
Two Baler seniors performed in their last high school track meet. Ali Schmidt PR’d in the 1,600 with a time of 5:16.28 for 10th place. Sarah Groman, a state qualifier a year ago, went 5-0 3/4 in the high jump for ninth.
“I’m not too disappointed,” said Logue of her team’s effort. “Great to see Ali PR and we had some younger girls get some experience.”
Boys
It had to be a disappointment for the Baler boys, who had hopes of placing in the top four, or, perhaps, even sneaking away with the CCS title thanks to some scratches by favorite Bellarmine at the semis. The Balers totaled just 10 points. Serra won the team title with 35 points. Five other teams were within 12 points, such was the tightness of the competition.
For the first time in recent memory, no Baler boy qualified for the state meet.
“It wasn’t our night,” said boys track and field coach Randy Logue. “We couldn’t get any early momentum. Most of our guys didn’t improve their marks while other schools stepped up and improved their marks.”
According to Logue, the Balers were first place after the third leg in the first running event of the night, the 4×100 relay.
The pass from Steve Bianchi to anchor Danny Brooks took too long to connect and Brooks was declared out of the zone by meet officials, which, in turn, DQ’d the Balers. At any rate, Brooks would have had to hold off the section’s top anchors, which wouldn’t have been easy.
Then Clay Peer, whom Randy Logue had hoped could finish in the top four of the shot put, ended up in eighth with a top throw of 48-10 3/4, almost four feet below his PR set at T-CAL’s, where he was league champ.
Two Balers just missed going to state for the second year in a row. Bianchi ended up in fourth at 45-7 in the triple jump, while Brooks went 6-2 1/2 in the high jump for fourth place in that event. Bianchi’s story was the most disappointing for he led all jumpers after the first three jumps. He was third up until the final round when he was passed by junior Julian Eison of Westmoor, who soared for 46-1. Junior Joel Tuosto of Greenfield won the event at 47-6 3/4.
The Balers Thomas Fernandez had one of his top jumps of the season at 44-8 3/4 for seventh.
Another very good time was by junior Jonathan Rivera, who ran a PR of 4:25.55 for sixth in the 1,600. Rivera’s effort even caught the attention of the public address announcer who credited him for a good race over the loudspeaker. Justin Tungate was running fine until he faltered down the stretch. Tungate, who let up considerably the final five yards, was sixth in a time of 41.56 in his final race as a Baler.
The 4×400 relay team ran its fastsest time of the season, improving by a second, as they clocked a 3:27.21 for a seventh place. That team consisted of Jesse Rice, Tamar Elbanhawy, Chris Pratt and Bianchi.
“It just goes to show that the meet isn’t decided on paper,” said Logue. “I have mixed emotions. I’m disappointed where we finished, but as a distance coach I’m happy for Jonathan Rivera and Ali Schmidt. They both ran great races.”
