Five of the six athletes set personal records
Six San Benito High School athletes will go to the Central Coast Section finals in track and field this coming Friday night at San Jose City College.
Five of the six set personal records in the CCS prelims held last Saturday, and two girls set school records.
Sophomore Amanda Boyd made the toughest race in track look like a Sunday School picnic as she destroyed her personal record by more than four seconds in the 800 meters with a 2:19.98. This time is the new frosh/soph school record by more than two seconds.
She placed second in her heat and will run next Friday in the finals, where she is seeded eighth in the best quality field in the CCS finals. She made her key move at the 600-meter mark and finished strong. She has not run the event very often this year but looked and ran like a seasoned veteran last Saturday, said coach Jennifer Logue.
“Next year, when she trains specifically for the event, I think she can run in the low 2:10s,” Logue said.
A four-second personal record at 800 meters this late in the season is almost unheard of, but it gives her a good advantage in the finals.
Junior Jamie O’brian ran a 45.68 in the 300-meter low hurdles.
She broke her own school record that she set during the league finals last week by 0.64 seconds. Overall, she has lowered the school record in the event by more than a second in the last two meets.
She made the grueling race look easy and led easily from start to finish in her heat. She will be seeded second in the CCS finals. O’brian also placed fifteenth in the 400-meter dash.
O’brian appears twice in San Benito High School varsity track records, the other being as a member of the girls 4 by 400-meter relay that set the school record O’brian’s freshman year.
Boyd and O’brian are the only two Baler girls to qualify for next week’s finals.
Michelle Sanchez set a new personal record of 63.04 in the 400 meters. Kirsten Para had a jump of 4-foot-10 in the high jump, and Danielle Andrewson had a jump of 4-foot-8.
Andrewson fought her steps in the triple jump, and did not qualify with a leap of 34 feet, 8 inches.
Mary Von Urff placed 29th in the shot put. Neither of the girls relay team qualified. Both teams finished in 20th place.
Para is the only one of the Baler girls who advanced individually to the CCS prelims. All of the other girls return for next season.
The boys also had strong performances with three personal records and four advancing to the finals.
Junior Jesse Rice set a new personal record, breaking the 50-second barrier, in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.72. He was third in his heat, and was the fourth fastest qualifier overall. He runs next week. He held up well in a blistering pace, and finished strong, gaining ground until the very end.
Senior Jonathan DiSalvo ran a 40.47 in the 300-meter Intermediate hurdles to place third overall.
He led his heat from start to finish, and set a personal record for the fourth time this year. His efforts were almost derailed as he teetered on his ankle as he cleared the last hurdle.
“I landed very awkwardly, but I don’t think I hurt my time very much” he said.
Junior Siljef Tabancay placed 11th in the 300-meter hurdles and will not run next week. However, he will compete next week in the long jump, placing seventh with a personal best of 21 feet, 10 inches.
“He is a great athlete” said coach David Kaplansky. “He is a pleasure to coach.”
Jonathan Rivera ran 4:22.41 in the 1600-meter run to place seventh. He will also run next week in stiff competition.
Chris Stephens placed 20th in the discus, and Jessie Grace placed 19th in the shot put.
Junior Matt Wynn vaulted 13 feet in the pole vault to finish tenth. Sophomore Todd Merrigan had the same height. They do not go on to the finals because they had more misses than two other vaulters who also cleared 13 feet.
Last week, both jumped 13-foot-4 – a height that put Merrigan only two inches behind the frosh/soph school record held by Cade McNown.
Neither of the boys relay teams qualified. The 4 by 400 meter relay finished tenth, and the 4 by 100 meter relay finished 12th.
Stephens, Rivera and DiSalvo are seniors.
The rest of the athletes who qualified as individuals for the CCS prelims as individuals are going to return next year. Seniors Willie Sanchez and Tamar Elbanhawy, who competed on the relay teams, will also be missed.
The Balers are sending four boys and two girls to the CCS finals, more than any other TCAL school.
North Salinas’ Ronnie Drummer is seeded first in the 200 meter and 100-meter dashes, but he is the only individual to make it from his school. Salinas is sending three athletes to the finals, Live Oak, Gilroy and Palma are sending two athletes and Notre Dame is sending one.
For any of the six Baler athletes to go to state, they will need to run and jump even better than they did last Saturday. In each event, eight athletes qualified for the finals (12 in the 1600- and 3200-meter races ). Only the top three in each event go to state.
In California, only 27 competitors in each event make it to the state finals. In some events, such as the girls 800 meters, the section is very strong.
In that event, five of the top eight competitors in the state are in the CCS. Boyd is ranked eighth.
The CCS finals are May 28 at San Jose City College. The field events start at 4 p.m., and the running events start at 6 p.m.
