With beautiful weather ahead and a full schedule of meets, the boys and girls track and field teams at San Benito High are off to a great start, with an embarrassment of riches in terms of talent and turnout.
“There are a lot of new guys we are working with, a lot of first-time kids,” said boys track head coach Rob Macias. “Things are shaping up well but it is going to be a whole season-long process to come up with the final team to take to the championships. There are going to be some growing pains, but I think we are going to get to where we want to be by the end of May.”
Girls head coach Ryan Shorey agreed that track and field are “alive and well”—beyond his expectations.
“We had an interesting start,” he said. “This year, unfortunately, we had to make some cuts just because over 300 kids signed up and we had to drop some, but we have homed in on our team and we have our group. Things are going well with more newcomers than any other year I have experienced.”
Taking into account the new recruits, with COVID restrictions on matches mostly lifted, a majority of the athletes are still relatively new to training and competing.
“Not having a season two years ago and having a modified season last year,” Macias said, “even people who had been out here as freshmen are still new to the sport and to a lot of things we are doing. For the seniors, they got their freshman year in, then their sophomore year was gone and a short season for their junior year. They are facing their first full season as varsity and it really means we are dealing with a young team.”
Macias identified Andrew Speech, Nate Marquez and Logan Freitas as athletes to watch.
Speech,17, had a stellar freshman year and is coming off some injuries. He will be doing the relays and is someone the team will lean on.
“He looks great out here and he is looking forward to being back out here after not being able to compete for so long,” Macias said.
Marquez, 17, was a distance runner who just played around at jumps and really improved on them last year. He will compete in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 4×4 relay.
“I started off as a distance runner but just didn’t enjoy it nearly as much,” he said. “I did some jumping in my freshman year and thought it was pretty cool, but I was not at my best capability due to my height. I’ve grown since then and when I came in last year, my coaches were definitely surprised at how far I could jump. I do have an advantage now and I am looking forward to getting into the CCS [Central Coast Section] finals and setting some personal records.”
Macias said that Freitas, 14, has a lot of potential and is one of the top guys. He is a football player and this is his first year ever running. Macias said Freitas impressed the coaches at practice and that he had a great showing at the time trials.
Shorey highlights four girls who have made an impression on him.
Gia Felice, 17, is the top returner in the 400 in the league and was a CCS finalist last year. He said she has one of the best attitudes about what she wants to achieve and how she is going to get there.
“The way she has developed her own process has taken her and will continue to take her super far,” Shorey said.
Felice was also a captain on the girls varsity basketball team this year and is looking to track to round out her high school sports career after the shortened season last year.
“Last year was weird just in general,” she said. “I feel everything was so rushed and this year we have more time to get better and develop as a team. I am pretty confident I can do the same or better than I did last year.”
Shorey called Mia Villegas, 18, the ultimate team player. He said she is more concerned with doing whatever is best for the team and is totally selfless. He added she is a great athlete and leader.
Jasayla Mariscal, 14, is a freshman and a middle-distance runner. Shorey said she originally came out for soccer and that things are starting to click for her.
Emma Franks, 14, is focused on jumps but could also be a sprinter. Shorey said she had never done athletics before and she came out strong right away.
“She has completely gone beyond what anyone could have expected,” Shorey said.
Both coaches think their prospects for success are pretty good this year and look forward to shaping their teams.
“We were sixth in CCS last year,” Shorey said, “and that was with a short season and a lot of kids we had hoped would come out not signing up. The hope this year is to get back to at least sixth place again with a full team, along with all the other schools having full teams as well.”
Macias describes the season as a work in progress.
“It is just a question of finding the right events for the right people,” he said. “We are still an inexperienced team but we are going to make it work and come together by the end of the year.”
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