Although Gilroy’s second-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay
supplied it with enough points to leapfrog St. Francis in the
night’s final event and earn the CCS title for the first time in
school history
— and by a 53-52 margin, no less — the injury-riddled Balers
still managed to post 28.5 points and finish in sixth place on
Friday, while also qualifying five individuals in three events to
next week’s state meet. Scott Medina will be a two-event competitor
in the 300-meter hurdles and 4×400 rel
ay, along with David Kret, Michael Bocksnick and Jason Roascio,
while Krystal Alnas qualified as well after finishing runner-up in
the discus event with a heave of 123-0.
GILROY
Scott Medina was experiencing discomfort in his right foot Friday night at the Central Coast Section Championships in Gilroy — the same right foot he broke last year that prevented him from competing for the San Benito High track team in the postseason.
So there was that.
But there was also his hamstring, the left one, which was “a little tweaked” as well, while his left foot, the previously healthy one, was experiencing a pain that wasn’t unlike the pain he felt last year when he discovered his other foot, the right one, was broken.
So when Medina fell short of reaching his season-best 6-06 mark in the high jump on Friday afternoon at the Garcia-Elder Sports Complex, instead clearing just 6-01 and finishing in seventh, it was understandable.
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But when he bounced back later in the day to claim a CCS title in the 300-meter hurdles, earning first place in 38.34 seconds, and run the third-leg of the section champion 4×400 relay team, which clocked a meet-leading 3:21.43, a broken-down Medina showcased a bit of a flare for the dramatic.
“I was just going for it,” he said after the 4×400, which although was one and a half seconds shy of its season best time of 3:19.88, still defeated runner-up Gilroy (3:23.47) by about two seconds Friday.
“I just wanted to give it my all and finish strong,” he added.
“It was tunnel vision; tunnel vision to the finish line.”
Although Gilroy’s second-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay supplied it with enough points to leapfrog St. Francis in the night’s final event and earn the CCS title for the first time in school history — and by a 53-52 margin, no less — the injury-riddled Balers still managed to post 28.5 points and finish in sixth place on Friday, while also qualifying five individuals in three events to next week’s state meet.
Medina will be a two-event competitor in the 300-meter hurdles and 4×400 relay, along with David Kret, Michael Bocksnick and Jason Roascio.
“I didn’t feel anything during the race,” Medina said of his injuries. “It was all adrenaline.”
Krystal Alnas qualified as well after finishing runner-up in the discus event with a heave of 123-0.
The mark was one foot shy of Alnas’ season-best of 124-0 set during the CCS Semifinals, but the San Benito junior was confident it would equal a trip to state, at the very least.
“I thought it was pretty decent. It was a midway mark for me,” said Alnas, who routinely reaches 130 feet during practice. The adrenaline of a meet, she added, often increases her strength but affects her technique.
With whatever pressures come with owning the top throw from the CCS Semifinals, though, Alnas on Friday instead turned that top-dog status into motivation. She finished runner-up to Mountain View’s Brielle Rowe (125-02).
“I was excited to come here and try to PR again and hopefully take first place,” she said. “But things happen.”
Still, a ticket to state is in hand, and in an event that took a backseat to shot put just one year ago. Alnas didn’t make it out of the Tri-County Athletic League Trials last season in discus, throwing 77-09.
“My best event used to be shot (put). I guess it kind of flipped on me,” she said. “But I knew I could do it.
“I’ve been working a lot on my technique and I took it a lot more serious.”
Alnas provided the first bit of good news for San Benito on Friday night, which started with Medina in the high jump. The San Benito senior cleared 5-11 on his first try, 6-01 on his second, but couldn’t clear 6-03 on his third.
“It just didn’t come together today,” said Medina, who was already feeling his laundry list of tweaks and injuries at that point.
He managed to bounce back with his performance in the 300-meter hurdles, though, defeating Prospect’s Kamara Biawogi (38.87) by roughly five-tenths of a second.
His performance in the high jump may have had an affect, too.
“I didn’t want to do the same thing — come in ranked high and leave in the bottom ranks. So that was definitely in the back of my mind,” Medina said. “When you’re seeded first, you’ve got to try and stay first and not let anyone overcome you.”
Enrique Ramos had difficulty keeping pace with the top seeds in Mount Pleasant’s Scott Brazil (57-0 ½) and North Monterey County’s Richie Casas (56-06), who finished 1-2 on Friday in the shot put.
Ramos scratched his first two tries before throwing a standstill 43-06, just to advance to the next round. In the end, he finished seventh with a 49-02.
Vanessa Estrada had difficulty staying with the top-three pack as well in the 3,200 meters, though she set another personal record in the two-mile event. One week after she shaved some 15 seconds off her time, Estrada clocked a fifth-place finish Friday in 11:03.52 — another 12 seconds faster than the week prior.
“It’s still sad. I’m not happy because I didn’t get 10 (minutes) and I didn’t get third (place),” the sophomore harrier said. “I felt like, choked up, like overwhelmed.”
With Friday’s race, though, Estrada has improved upon her 3,200-meter time by 27 seconds in the last few weeks, a fact that provided a silver lining for the second-year runner.
“I’m here, and I’m grateful for that,” she said. “Next year, I’m gonna get it. I’m not giving up.”
David Kret didn’t necessarily have trouble keeping with the pack in the 800 meters, just fighting through it. After a “super-slow first lap,” Woodside’s Chris Waschura took off ahead of the pack, and Kret got caught toward the back.
He tried cutting back toward the inside and fighting his way to the front on the straightaway, but there simply wasn’t enough track on the final lap. Kret finished seventh in 1:59.07.
“I tried to keep it close on the straightaway,” he said. “I gave it everything I had so I wouldn’t finish last.”
During CCS Semifinals, Kret was the eighth and final qualifier with a 1:57.05, a time that would have placed him runner-up on Friday night.
Injuries were again at the forefront in the 400 meters. Jason Roascio, whose fastest time this season was a 49.53, and who qualified to finals last week with a 49.84, ran a seventh-place time of 50.21 seconds on Friday night.
Bellarmine’s Andre Chapman ran the fastest time in 49.09 seconds.
“My foot was just hurting right from the start,” said Roascio, who has been suffering from a case of compartment syndrome in his lower right leg, and believes his right foot was hurting as a result. “I thought I blocked it out, but I came around the home stretch and I couldn’t give it anymore.”
Roascio described the pain as having his foot “in a vise.”
“It didn’t let me run at all,” he added. “But it’s not an excuse.”
Roascio didn’t let it become one later in the night during the 4×400 relay, where he ran the anchor leg and held off Gilroy’s Jourdan Soures on the final lap to win the event.
The 1,600-meter relay was a bounce-back event for both Roascio and Kret, in fact, and the icing on the cake for Medina.
“This is a huge moral boost,” Roascio said. “I was pretty bummed with my 400.”
“I was disappointed in my 800,” Kret added. “But our 4×400 is why Hollister is known in the Central Coast Section.”
The CIF-State Track and Field Championships will be held June 3-4 at Veterans Memorial Stadium, on the campus of Buchanan High School in Clovis. To see complete results of the Central Coast Section Championships, go here.
