Gilroy
– Last week was a rough one for Live Oak’s Cobbie Jones. In
addition to going to school and running, the senior had to prepare
for a horse show, which meant staying up until 1am to finish school
work and waking up at 5am to tend to her horse.
Gilroy – Last week was a rough one for Live Oak’s Cobbie Jones.
In addition to going to school and running, the senior had to prepare for a horse show, which meant staying up until 1am to finish school work and waking up at 5am to tend to her horse.
Despite the lack of rest, Jones easily won the girls’ varsity cross country race between Live Oak, Gilroy and Sobrato Monday at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy with a time of 18:47.
“I’m just looking forward to recovering (this week),” Jones said. “My times are starting to come down now. I’m pretty happy with how I’m racing.”
Live Oak’s Lisa Herrera (2nd, 20:16) and Olivia Duran (3rd, 20:53) made it an Acorn sweep of the top three spots in the varsity girls’ race, propelling Live Oak to the narrow 28-30 win over Gilroy.
Team scores between Live Oak and Sobrato were not kept in any of the races because the two teams had already had a meet against each other earlier in the season.
The Live Oak threesome battled through the late stretch over Christmas Hill, much of which is exposed to the intense heat from the sun, and finished with a sizable two-minute lead over the next finishers.
“It was a lot warmer than I thought it would be,” Herrera said.
The heat on the hill slowed Sobrato freshman Lance Wolfsmith as well, who was recovering from a personal best time of 16:39 at the Crystal Springs Invitational on Saturday. He took 26th overall, but was the top freshman in the championship varsity division.
Still, Wolfsmith was the top Morgan Hill finisher in the boys’ race Monday with a 17:14 fourth-place time.
“My legs just felt fried,” Wolfsmith said. “Two races in three days is pretty hard.”
As a triathlete, Wolfsmith was used to longer running races before entering his first high school cross country season. He hadn’t competed in a distance like the three-mile high school races in over a year.
“These races are pretty intense,” said Wolfsmith, who was right on leader Gilroy senior Arnulfo Velasquez’s shoulder for over half the race. “I didn’t know what type of times I would be pulling off.”
Gilroy’s Velasquez ended up winning the boys’ varsity race with a time of 17:05. The Mustangs’ Humberto Pineda (17:08) and Jose Velasquez (17:10) pushed ahead of Wolfsmith later in the race for second and third. Anthony Dragotto (5th, 17:19) helped Gilroy take four of the top five spots and the team win over Live Oak, 18-40, and Sobrato, 20-66.
Top 10 Finishers
Boys’ Varsity Race
- Arnulfo Velasquez, Gilroy 17:05
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Humberto Pineda, Gilroy 17:08
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Jose Velasquez, Gilroy 17:10
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Lance Wolfsmith, Sobrato 17:14
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Anthony Dragotto, Gilroy 17:14
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Josh Levy, Live Oak 17:20
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Eric Matsumoto, Live Oak 17:39
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Andrew Taylor, Live Oak 17:46
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Ramiro Diaz, Gilroy 17:46
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Kenny Benner, Live Oak 17:48
Girls’ Varsity Race
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Cobbie Jones, Live Oak 18:47
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Lisa Herrera, Live Oak 20:16
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Olivia Duran, Live Oak 20:53
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Kathleen Miller, Gilroy 22:57
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Megan Litle, Gilroy 24:06
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Christine Babula, Gilroy 24:49
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Kristina Schmidt, Gilroy 24:59
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Remy Birchmier, Sobrato 25:06
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Kayla Nishimatsu, Sobrato 25:06
