Attempting to claim a second-straight Tri-County Athletic League title and a combined sweep of the league championships, the San Benito boys track and field team was stunned by upstart Palma during the TCAL championship at Gilroy High on Friday.
Despite taking four individual TCAL championships, the Balers were outmanned by Palma, which dominated the leaping competitions.
Overall, the Chieftains took six individual championships — some of which San Benito finished in second place — to claim the team title 152 to 133.
Regardless of the surprising second-place finish, San Benito ran well.
The Balers won both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Senior David Kret ran well, finishing first in the 400 meters with a time of 49.48. Kret also finished second in the 200 meters behind Gilroy’s Jourdan Soares with a time of 21.91.
Long-distance runner RJ Collins finished second in both the 1600 meters (2:48.97) and the 3,200 meters (9:45.82). Meanwhile, Lucas Haro took first in the 110 meter hurdles (15.58) but struggled in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 42.06, good for seventh place.
On the girls side, San Benito won its first championship in three years, besting Salinas 169-101. Krystal Alnas and Vanessa Estrada combined for five of the team’s eight individual championships.
Alnas took first in the shot put (39-04.50) and the discus (125-03) to distance the Balers from the Cowboys in the overall standings.
But it was junior Vanessa Estrada that stole the show for San Benito. Estrada dominated her three individual races.
In the 800 meters, Estrada won by more than a second, defeating Notre Dame’s Alex Lathos with a time of 2:18.88.
Lathos fell even further behind Estrada in the 1,600 meters. Estrada finished with a time of 5:02.50, more than 22 seconds faster than Lathos.
Her most impressive time, though, was in the 3,200-meter race, where Estrada won by nearly a minute.
The Balers also took first in the 4×100-meter relay. Simone Cooper, Jessi Pfeifer, Savanna Wilson and LeNae Stevens combined for a time of 49.84.
Wilson, with a 16-08.25 jump, took first in the long jump. Cooper and Stevens finished second and third.
Cooper also took first in the triple jump with a leap of 34-02.75 for San Benito.
