Sports

For the San Benito High girls volleyball team, the future is now. The Haybalers return all but one starter from last year’s team, they have a dynamic new coach in Ruth Testman and enough talent to compete with most of the best teams in the Central Coast Section.

The Anzar High cross-country team usually has one or two standout runners every year. This season that runner could be junior Angel Garcia, who ran just one race as a freshman and four a year ago. Hawks coach Faby Felix knows when she sees talent, and is hoping Garcia can complete an entire season.

The result was as stunning to the players as it was to outside observers. A year after losing to Kings Christian 55-0, the Anzar High football team stunned the California 8-man league powerhouse 26-20 last Friday in Lemoore.

For the second year in a row, San Benito had its way with Hilmar in its season opener. The Haybalers ran roughshod over the visiting Yellowjackets 49-20 on Friday. San Benito rushed for 384 yards and had 514 yards of total offense.

The San Benito High boys water polo team opened up the season with a 19-7 drubbing of visiting Harbor on Thursday. Daniel Reimer, a 16-year-old senior, had a match-high seven goals to lead seven different goal scorers. The Haybalers know things will be considerably tougher once they play some of the top teams in the Monterey Bay League next week.

The San Benito High boys and girls water polo teams enter the season with different storylines but plenty of optimism. For the boys, they’ll have a familiar face manning poolside in third-year coach Brendan Sigourney. For the girls, they have a new coach in Fred Latimore, who served in the same capacity at Gilroy High for the last three years.

Like most collegiate freshmen, Caitlin Schafer knew going from high school to playing Division I water polo would be a big step up in competition and intensity.

Some people refer to Tony Castro as the trainer of champions. As the strength and conditioning coach of top UFC fighters Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier, it’s little wonder Castro has gained that moniker.

Despite entering the Sumo World Championships in Tokyo with a crushed ring finger, Roy Sims finished 3-2, with all of his victories coming in the team portion of the event. Sims lost his only individual match before going 3-1 in team competition, helping the U.S. to a top-eight finish.

Roy Sims has been competing in sumo for only 13 months, but he could be on the cusp of making history. The longtime Hollister resident competes in the Sumo World Championships in Osaka, Japan on Aug. 30. The 6-foot-5, 370-pound Sims is coming off a historic performance in the U.S. Sumo Open, as he became the first American to win a gold medal in the open weight division.