The San Benito High boys’ and girls’ swim teams held their own
on Thursday against Live Oak, one of the Tri-County Athletic
League’s strongest programs, but at the end of the day, the Acorns
held on to win.
Hollister – The San Benito High boys’ and girls’ swim teams held their own on Thursday against Live Oak, one of the Tri-County Athletic League’s strongest programs, but at the end of the day, the Acorns held on to win.
“It was a great high-school swim meet, said Live Oak boys’ coach Mack Haines. “Every event on the varsity level was competitive and highly contested. It got close enough that strategy got involved. I think that in every aspect, it was a great meet.”
Haybaler highlights on the day included the team’s hot start on the girls’ side of things with Hollister’s Natalie Smith winning the diving competition with a score of 116.45, six points better than second-place finisher Katie Darcie of Live Oak.
Katie Buzzetta scored a big win for the Balers in the 50 free. Buzzetta and Live Oak’s Ronni Gautschi, a very strong sprinter, were dead even for the whole first lap but Buzzetta pulled ahead after the turn to edge Gautschi’s time of 26.57 seconds with a first-place time of 26.51 seconds.
“Considering that we’ve been out of the pool this week, I think we did pretty good,” said Hollister girls’ coach Stephanie Pursley. “I think we did a lot better than what the girls were expecting, they gave their best effort.”
On the boys’ side, Hollister’s Blane Curtice had a very productive day in the pool. Curtice took a second off of his current time in the 500 free with a time of 5:03.48. Live Oak’s Justin short stayed with Curtice as he set the pace early in the race and, with 50 yards left in the event, the two were still very close. But Curtice seemed to find an extra gear on the last lap of the race and pulled ahead for the win, defeating Short by more than a full second.
Curtice also anchored the Haybaler 400-free relay team that came from behind to finish first with a final time of 3:28.13.
“Blane did fantastic, He wasn’t even scheduled to race that event,” said Hollister boys’ coach Leif Nordstrom. “We had a few mental lapses but I thought we did well. David Smith won the 100 back, had a great swim there. So, we had a good meet.”
