High School Sports

When Austin Perez suffered a second torn anterior cruciate ligament during her sophomore year—her second in three years—it would’ve been easy for her to give up athletics permanently.

As Michelle Serna prepared to take the stage to give an eight-minute speech for a TEDx Talk event in San Francisco on Oct. 29, she felt fully prepared. After all, the Anzar High senior had rehearsed her speech so many times that “it didn’t feel special anymore.” However, Serna still felt a rush of adrenaline in the moments before her speech.

The San Benito High boys soccer team knows no one expects it to finish among the top three teams in the Monterey Bay League’s Gabilan Division, which would earn it an automatic berth into the Central Coast Section playoffs. That’s just fine to the Haybalers, who won the third-place game of the prestigious Homestead Cup Tournament last Saturday.

The Anzar High girls soccer team came close to earning a Central Coast Section playoff berth last season. Although second-year coach Tony Rosa said the odds are stacked against the team this year to making the postseason, he likes the makeup of the squad.

Andrew Barragan has rarely met a challenge he didn’t like. On Thursday, he was given a monumental one as he was named the new softball coach at San Benito High. The Haybalers softball juggernaut won nine Central Coast Section Division I championships under former coach Scott Smith, who was not retained this past season after 14 years on the job.

Chris Borland and Dr. Bennet Omalu are right. Within America’s football-infatuated culture—I’m as guilty as anyone—we are all dangerously wrong.

Kayla King received her first yellow card when she was 4. She hasn’t let up ever since. The San Benito High senior continued her aggressive ways and stayed dedicated to soccer, and all of the hard work paid off when she verbally committed to play for Jacksonville University, a Division I program in Florida.

When a San Benito High athlete gets hurt, Danielle Techner is first on the scene. Techner, 29, is the school’s athletic trainer and teaches four sports medicine classes. Techner is present at every home sports event; if there are multiple games going on at the same time, Techner attends the contest that has “the most contact level.”

San Benito High wrestling coach Steven Salcedo had plenty of reasons to be excited after the team hosted the Fehlman/Baxter Tournament on Dec. 12. The Haybalers went 3-2 in the six-team tournament, with each team facing off in a dual format. San Benito recorded wins over College Park-Pleasant Hill, North Salinas and Ripon while dropping matches to Atascadero and Clovis.

Shraee Harrison knows there’s some decent talent on the San Benito High boys basketball team. That’s why the 6-foot-3, 200-pound forward said he feels confident the team can turn things around despite being 0-5 entering the Palma Tournament on Thursday.