Speaking about sophomore Vanessa Estrada minutes after the
Central Coast Section Division I Championships had concluded, San
Benito girls coach Josh Morales seemed to enter the land of sports
hyperbole. In hindsight, however, his statement wasn’t that
far-fetched.
”
She has the potential to be the fastest Hollister runner
ever,
”
Morales said in November, minutes after the second-year harrier
clocked a personal-best time at Salinas’ Toro Park and subsequently
punched her ticket to state.
HOLLISTER
Speaking about sophomore Vanessa Estrada minutes after the Central Coast Section Division I Championships had concluded, San Benito girls coach Josh Morales seemed to enter the land of sports hyperbole.
In hindsight, however, his statement wasn’t that far-fetched.
“She has the potential to be the fastest Hollister runner ever,” Morales said in November, minutes after the second-year harrier clocked a personal-best time at Salinas’ Toro Park and subsequently punched her ticket to state.
A month later, Morales still sees the potential in Estrada, who this year earned the Tri-County Athletic League title in a time of 19:10, was fourth in CCS Division I in a time of 18:58, recorded a 19:01 at state and as a result, was named the Free Lance/Pinnacle’s Most Outstanding Fall Female Athlete.
“Just look at her whole season,” Morales said. “She didn’t have any low points. Every meet, she ran faster.”
Without counting the smaller TCAL dual meets, Morales’ last statement, which again seems to fall into sports hyperbole, is actually true.
With the benchmark set at 20:25.81 — her slowest time of the year which she ran on Sept. 8 at the TCAL Jamboree — Estrada steadily improved each race, and shaved a few seconds off her previous best time each race.
“I was just trying to improve upon what I did last time,” she said. “I wanted to push it harder and push it harder and push it harder. I just wanted to improve and PR.”
At the Early Bird Invitational on Sept. 11, Estrada ran a 19:43. One week later, at the Chieftain Classic on Sept. 18, Estrada recorded a 19:28, while at the Pacific Grove Invitational on Oct. 2, the San Benito sophomore ran a 19:24.34.
By the end of October, she was running a 19:10 at the TCAL Championships, which not only placed her first overall, but also helped her team earn the league title for the first time since 2006.
“She has that drive, that determination, that you don’t always see,” Morales said. “She wants to be the best and she has it in her.”
Case in point, Estrada’s turnaround from a year ago. As a freshman, the Hollister harrier clocked a 20:27 at the Division I Championships, which was held at the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course in Belmont. This year, while competing on the 3.1-mile course at Toro Park, which is not only longer but also considered a more difficult trek with its brutal hills, Estrada ran a 19:10 — some 77 seconds faster.
“I needed a goal for myself. As a freshman, my goal was just to make it to varsity,” Estrada said. “But when I got there, I wanted to do something bigger. This year, I wanted to make it to state.”
The offseason turnaround wasn’t immediate, though. Estrada admits to taking the winter months off last year, following the conclusion of cross country season. And she really didn’t pick her training back up until the spring, when she began competing for the San Benito track and field team.
She regrets it now, of course, not training as much during the offseason months.
“Last offseason, I didn’t do anything,” she said.
But despite not devoting a full year to her running craft, Estrada didn’t disappoint this past fall. She ramped her running commitment back up following track season, running six, seven or eight miles at a time in the summer, while also training with the Tri County Running Club.
And with her goal of reaching the varsity level as a freshmen previously accomplished, Estrada reached for the peak as a sophomore.
She wanted to make all-league in the TCAL, advance to state and be viewed as the fastest runner on the Balers.
Check, check and check.
Just think of how good she’ll be with a full season of training, something she plans on remedying this offseason.
“If you think you can, you can. You have to believe in yourself,” Estrada said. “If I was going to go higher, I had to do something about it.”
Morales could see the changes Estrada’s summer workouts provided. Prone to illness as a freshman, the sophomore runner was even eating healthier this year, Morales said.
“She basically took off,” he added. “In the summer, she was really pushing herself, so we knew she would have a good cross country season.”
Estrada’s drive helped set her apart. Constantly pushing in races with often no other runner to compete against, the sophomore was usually upset after a race, and would even apologize to her coaches, despite having just clocked a time that was better than her last.
The reason, she said, was because she is constantly looking for ways and areas on the course for where she can improve. So although her time may be faster, the means of reaching that time were not.
“I guess you could say she is pretty rare, for her work ethic and determination,” Morales said. “She really believes in herself and what she can do. She has a really good future the next couple of years.”
Whether her accomplishments exceed the likes of Amanda Boyd (’06) or Courtney Allen (’09) remain to be seen, but her times are on pace, if not better, than her Baler counterparts.
“We were hoping she would maybe make it into the 19s (minute range),” Morales said. “But her first run, she started in the 19s, and she never stopped.”
Last week, the Free Lance and Pinnacle named Cody Hendricks as the Most Outstanding Fall Male Athlete. Log on to www.freelancenews.com to read more.
