The combined San Benito High boys cross country team finished
third in the 10th Annual Earlybird Invitational at North Monterey
County High School Saturday.
San Benito flies to third at Early Bird
n By NATHAN MIXTER Sports Editor
Castroville – The combined San Benito High boys cross country team finished third in the 10th Annual Earlybird Invitational at North Monterey County High School Saturday.
The Haybalers have a young team but finished with a veteran time of 84:30, making them the fifth fastest team ever in the race.
Madera came in ranked eighth in the state in DI and 11th overall. They were coming off a victory at the Granite Bay Invite last week. Their time of 82:02 was second only to their time of 81:54 last year.
North Monterey County came in ranked third in state in DII and 10th overall and finished second with a time of 82:27 even without injured Nathan Huerta.
In the sophomore boys race, San Benito’s Rigo Vasquez, the defending champ and former freshman course record holder, finished in third at 16:38.
Balers win five of six
Hollister – On Monday, against in a Tri-County Athletic League dual meet against Notre Dame/Palma and Live Oak/Sobrato, San Benito won five of the six age groups against both teams. The only team to lose was the JV boys, who finished behind Palma.
In the varsity race, San Benito had five of its runners place in the top seven. Alfredo Lopez finished behind Live Oak’s Billy Wong for second place with a time of 18:14. He finished a second ahead of Robert Mahet of Palma.
“All the guys improved,” said coach Jess Morales. “The guys stepped up, coming back on Monday and being able to adapt to that was pretty tough. We just wanted to go win and practice a couple things and they did that.”
Eddie Trujjo (18:20), Rigo Vasquez (18:21), Josh Vasquez (18:24) and Kyle Bambrick (18:27) finished next. Albert Sandavol finished 11th with a time of 18:40, and Victor Hernandez came in 15th with a mark of 19:19.
The San Benito girls beat Notre Dame by one point, 27-28. Four freshmen were moved up to the varsity team after the race Saturday.
“Could have been the other way,” Morales said. “I would have been happy if we tied because of the effort they gave.”
Amanada Boyd, racing in her first cross country race, finished third with a time of 22:29 to pace the Lady Balers. Jamilla Saqqa and Allison Meyer finished sixth and seventh with times of 24:30 and 24:31. Brenda Garbay and Jessica Albright challenged each other, finishing 10th and 11th with times of 25.44 and 25.45.
Lilly Villia Gomez finished 13th with a time of 27:07, and Megan Garret finished 15th with a mark of 27:23.
“It’s a good way to start the season, not to take anything form the other teams,” Morales said. “Billy (Wong) ran a strong race. Live Oak and Palma are nothing to take lightly. I didn’t know what to expect. We worked on a couble things and it worked out fine.”
For complete Early Bird results, go to nmcxc.tripod.com.
Early Bird Results
Combined boys team times
1 Madera 82:02
2 North Monterey County 82:27
3 San Benito 84:30
4 St.Ignatius 85:03
5 Carlmont 85:05
6 Monta Vista 85:18
7 Los Gatos 86:16
8 Westmoor 86:26
15 Palma 89:08
26 North Salinas 93:11
Combined girls team times
1 Los Gatos 99:55
2 Aptos 100:45
3 Monta Vista 102:37
4 St.Ignatius 103:28
5 Evergreen 105:43
6 Madera 107:08
7 Carlmont 107:43
8 Silver Creek 107:56
9 Saratoga 109:49
10 Los Lomas 110:48
15 North Salinas 113:37
16 Notre Dame-Salinas 113:40
19 San Benito 115:42
