One week after posting impressive times at the Early Bird
Invitational, the San Benito cross country team continued the trend
last Saturday at the Chieftain Classic in Salinas, where the Baler
boys finished second overall and the Baler girls earned the top
spot.
SALINAS
One week after posting impressive times at the Early Bird Invitational, the San Benito cross country team continued the trend last Saturday at the Chieftain Classic in Salinas, where the Baler boys finished second overall and the Baler girls earned the top spot.
Vanessa Estrada was third overall out of 216 runners when she clocked a 19:28 to pace San Benito, which compiled just 51 points at Salinas’ Toro Park.
Behind Nikki Hiltz, who recorded a first-place time of 18:55, Aptos finished second among the varsity girls teams with 104 points, while Evergreen Valley (114), Santa Teresa (138) and Leland (157) rounded out the top five teams.
Meanwhile, Baler Maura Forbush was seventh in the varsity race in 20:01, while Dayna Casillas finished 17th in 20:49 and Cynthia Trujillo was 19th in 20:55. Grace Tobias (28th, 21:35), Megan Pape (32nd, 21:44) and Molly Lamanna (44th, 22:13) rounded out San Benito in the girls varsity race.
Other highlights on the girls side included Linnea Shorey’s (24:09) fifth-place finish and Shenice Ibarra’s (24:10) seventh-place finish in the junior varsity race, while San Benito’s Celine Glon recorded a 23:41 to take ninth in the frosh/soph race.
The junior varsity girls also took second place on Saturday.
On the boys side, the Balers compiled 45 points and narrowly finished behind Willow Glen, which recorded a meet-low 36 points to earn first place.
Willow Glen’s Donald Plazola was first overall in the boys varsity race, clocking a 15:40, but San Benito’s Jose Castillo followed shortly thereafter with a fifth-place time of 16:10.
Teammate Sergio Alcala trailed with a ninth-place time of 16:27, while Eddie Guzman followed with a 10th-place finish in 16:29. Omar Vasquez (12th, 16:35), sophomore Ricky Esqueda (14th, 16:43) and Said Hernandez (20th, 17:11) all trailed to round out the Baler boys.
The Chieftain Classic, at least among the varsity boys, came down to Willow Glen and San Benito, however. Serra, compiling 128 points, was a distant third, while Cupertino (139) and King City (166) rounded out the top five teams.
San Benito’s league rival Gilroy, with 175 points, finished in sixth place.
The varsity wasn’t the only level that provided highlights on Saturday, though. San Benito’s junior varsity team finished in first place when Steven Hernandez (3rd, 17:40), David Kret (4th, 18:05), Daniel Vasquez (5th, 18:23) and Abraham De Alba (6th, 18:35) all finished within the top 10.
Meanwhile, freshman Steven Velarde was first in the frosh/soph race, clocking a 17:00, and Johnny Corral was fifth in 18:12.
San Benito will compete at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday in Palo Alto. Races begin at 9 a.m.
