Each of San Benito’s three entries at the CIF-State Track and
Field Championships fell short of advancing to the finals on Friday
in Clovis. Competing at Veterans Memorial Stadium, on the campus of
Buchanan High School, Scott Medina in the 300-meter hurdles,
Krystal Alnas in the discus and the boys’ 4×400 relay team of
Medina, Jason Roascio, David Kret and Steven Hernandez each tested
their hand during Friday’s prelims, and each either exceeded or
came close to exceeding their top times for the season. But a bid
toward Saturday’s finals wasn’t in the cards for any of the
Balers.
HOLLISTER
The San Benito Haybalers — the 4×400 relay team, especially — had a lengthy list of built-in excuses.
But they chose to use none of them Friday at the CIF-State Track and Field Championships in Clovis.
Despite an extensive injury report, which may or may not include a broken foot to one competitor, or the fact that the Balers were running the 4×400 relay event with its second alternate (not to mention that graduation had taken place in Hollister that same morning), San Benito still competed Friday in Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School, and still delivered one of its best times of the season.
It fell short of advancing to the second day, mind you, but the relay clocked a 3:19.88, nonetheless, or, in other words, tied the school-record time it set earlier this season.
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“We tied it to the hundredth of a second. The same exact time,” senior anchor leg Jason Roascio said. “It was kind of weird.
“We went into this hoping we’d PR and we knew it was going to be tough, and we ended up tying it. Considering the circumstances, that was pretty good.”
Consider the circumstances. Along with first-leg runner David Kret, second-leg runner Steven Hernandez was competing for the Balers Friday as the foursomes second alternate, while both Roascio and third-leg runner Scott Medina have experienced so many injuries recently that they haven’t been able to properly train since roughly the midway point of the regular season.
Roascio has compartment syndrome in his lower right leg, which has since extended a pain into his right foot, while Medina, who broke his right foot last season, and has been experiencing discomfort with it recently, competed at state with a strained left hamstring and a pain in his left foot that he believes may be broken.
“We wanted to beat it, but just getting close to it was nice too,” Medina said of the 3:19.88, which San Benito previously recorded at the Arcadia Invitational in April.
Roascio said he managed to “completely block out” the pain in his right leg during the race.
“I knew it could be my last race,” said Roascio, who recently signed on to Wyoming last month. “I just wanted to give it everything I could.”
In the end, though, tying the school-record time wasn’t good enough to qualify past the preliminary round, as the Balers finished fourth out of nine teams in their heat, 13th out of 27 teams overall.
Only the top two teams from San Benito’s heat advanced to Saturday’s finals, including Del Oro (3:17.71) of the Sac-Joaquin Section and Serra (3:18.77) of the Southern Section. The North Coast Section’s Castro Valley finished third in the heat with a 3:18.97, while the Southern Section’s Poly of Long Beach ran the top time in the field — a blistering 3:14.60.
During Saturday’s finals, Poly again ran the top time — a 3:12.44.
Competing individually, Medina actually came the closest to qualifying to Saturday’s second day. The senior clocked a time of 38.58 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles to finish fifth out of nine individuals in his heat, 13th out of 26 overall.
His time was all of three-tenths of a second short of qualifying toward Saturday, though, and his injuries likely played a role.
“My hamstring kind of gave out on me after the first hurdle, so I was limited in what I could run,” Medina said. “I had an excellent start and an excellent first hurdle, but after the first hurdle my leg pretty much told me I wasn’t running anymore.
“I had to slow down.”
Still, Medina’s time — less than six-tenths of a second off his season-best time of 37.99 — nearly figured into a finals bid as three hurdlers in his heat advanced, including Las Lomas’ Kenny Grimble (37.63), Mt. Carmel’s Alex Allen (38.04) and El Camino’s Isiah Jackson (38.20).
But mounting injuries, one of which could be a broken foot, didn’t make Friday’s competition any easier.
“It happens,” said Medina, who plans on visiting a doctor for his foot in the upcoming days.
San Benito junior Krystal Alnas, meanwhile, recorded a season-best mark in the discus on Friday, although the first-time state competitor didn’t figure into the top nine to advance to Saturday.
The junior tossed a 124-02 on her first throw in the discus event and finished in 21st place. The throw exceeded her season-best throw of 124-0, recently registered at the Central Coast Section Semifinals, by two inches.
To see complete results from the CIF-State Track and Field Championships, go here.
