‘Baler boys score huge victory over tough Live Oak squad; young
girls fall to Acorns
Hollister – The San Benito boys swimming team’s victory over Live Oak yesterday was so exciting for the ‘Balers that they tried to give head coach Leif Nordstrom the sport’s equivalent of a Gatorade bath.
“I nearly got wet there,” said a fully-clothed Nordstrom after his exhuberant athletes attempted to throw him in the pool. “That’s how valuable the Live Oak meet is, but I told them to refrain ’til league championships.”
San Benito had not defeated the Acorns in the past five seasons, but emerged with a 103-84 win to run its Tri-County Athletic League record to a perfect 3-0.
The Lady ‘Balers, competing without a diving team, weren’t quite as fortunate, falling to the visiting Acorns 120-76. Live Oak stacked the ranks of its girls varsity team, conceding the junior varsity competition to San Benito, and thus gained valuable points by adding extra relay teams.
“This is our toughest meet because we don’t have any divers,” said ‘Balers girls coach Stephanie Pursley. “We lost 13 points because of divers.”
Nevertheless, San Benito was boosted by the performance of its young girls. Freshmen Shelli Reed posted dominant wins in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke, to continue her outstanding start to the season.
Fellow first-year swimmer Lacey Larson was thrilled to knock off precious time in one of her events. In taking four seconds off her previoius best in the 200-yard freestyle, Larson posted a time that qualified her for the Central Coast Section Championships.
“Taking that much time off in one race was really great and motivating,” said Larson after finishing in 2:05.05, good for second behind Live Oak’s Laura Melroy. “Being that close [to Melroy] was good enough for me today.”
The ‘Baler boys were led by star junior Blane Curtice, who dominated his competition in winning the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly.
“It felt really good,” said Curtice, who won the 200-yard IM in 2:03.13, more than seven seconds better than runner-up Steven Rick of Live Oak. “It was really good competition and it felt great to win by that much.”
One of the closest finishes of the meet involved two ‘Balers vying for second place in the 50-yard freestyle. San Benito juniors John Kaplanis and Jason Andrade have been pushing each other this season, and Kaplanis squeezed out a narrow victory in the team’s meet against Salinas on Wednesday.
But this time, Andrade got the better of his teammate, touching the edge a fraction of a second in front of Kaplanis.
“I touched him out there,” said Kaplanis of winning the Salinas duel, “[but] he touched me out here.”
Said Andrade: “I think I got him this time.”
Those points were instrumental in the ‘Balers victory, as was Andrade’s CCS-qualifying win in the diving competition on Thursday.
Happily dry after the meet, Nordstrom underscored the victory’s importance.
“This was huge. This was huge for our boys,” said Nordstrom. “Our boys just really wanted it. With the league, it’s a dogfight for No. 1 and No. 2, always. Last year, Live Oak edged us out and this year, our boys were ready for redemption.”
