As she planted her feet in the starting blocks only a few lanes away from Piedmont Hills standouts Bianca and Ellisa Bryant, the fastest girl in the state from 400 meters, Sobrato sophomore Jessica Reid glanced over at one of her admirers in the crowd, smiled and gave two thumbs up.
She wasn’t intimidated.
“Rather than beating a time and running against other people, I’m just running for me,” says Reid. “I feel really relaxed when I run. Everything’s out of my head.”
Ellisa won the heat and the 400 title in 55.20 seconds Thursday at the Blossom Valley Athletic League Finals meet at Mount Pleasant High School.
The bleach-blond Reid, meanwhile, claimed her own moral victory, a fifth-place overall finish (1:00.56) that qualified her for Saturday’s Central Coast Section Semifinals. She celebrated with her Piedmont Hills competitors afterward, then began to take in how far she has come in her rookie season of track.
“Oh my God, I’m so stoked,” she said with a hand on her forehead. “First year, going to CCS, I really can’t feel any better.”
That she did not shrink in the company of greatness nor question her ability – “It only pushes me harder,” Reid said – should come as no surprise, according to Sobrato assistant head coach Fred Rios. Reid’s spectacular spring has been the product of a competitive spirit, natural gifts and blissful obviousness.
“Because she’s a newcomer, she doesn’t really know the magnitude of some of this stuff,” Rios said. “So she comes into it with a much more at-ease mindset. But yet she’s just really competitive, so she’s like, ‘Let me at it.’”
The BVAL Finals were a coming-of-age event for several underclassmen from Sobrato and Live Oak. While Reid solidified a postseason in the open 400 and the 4×100 relay (52.14), an event she was more satisfied to advance in, sophomore Emily Guthormsen of Live Oak qualified for sectionals in the 1,600, the 800 and in the 4×400 relay (4:16.12) with junior Annalise DiSalvo, sophomore Alissa Pham and freshman Paige Frierson. Acorns sophomore James Gabbard won his 800 heat and placed second overall (2:00.75). He also made the cut in an all-sophomore 4×400 (3:36.32) of Kalum Bergstrom, Kyle Robertson and Daniel Gonzalez.
Sobrato junior Ryan Corvese ran with a purpose while qualifying second in the 1,600 in 4:30.43, almost nine seconds off his seed time, and eighth in the 3,200 (10:13.02).
“I want to let people know who I am,” he said. “I came to race today.”
Gabbard showed the fortitude it takes to win an 800. He set a challenging pace after the first lap and won by almost a full second.
“I was the guy barely standing up at the end,” Gabbard said. “Everyone else was just walking around. ‘How are you guys doing that?’ It hurts a lot, but I guess no one else wants to hurt that much.”
Afari La-Anyane, another LOHS sophomore, clocked the fifth fastest 110-meter hurdles (15.50). Bergstrom tied for fifth in high jump with a personal-best 5 feet, 9 inches, bouncing back from a disqualification in the 3,200. His unofficial time would have been enough for him to advance.
Sobrato junior Thomas Yath qualified third in the 400 (52.15), and teammate Miguel Redmond, also a junior, launched 11-6 to make the cut in pole vault.
Sobrato high jumpers Rebekah Inouye, a junior, and freshman Elizabeth Tran advanced at 4-10 and 4-6, respectively. Sophomore Maritza Anaya earned the eighth and final invite to CCS in the discus throw at 94 feet even.
With Reid in the anchor leg, running with sophomore Shawna Lai, junior Cybil Pace and senior Kate van Keulen, Sobrato’s unranked 4×100 came through in the opening event.
“My relay team making it – that’s all I wanted,” Reid said. “I didn’t want to be (at CCS) alone.”
NOTE: The CCS Semifinals begin with field events at 9:30 a.m. at Gilroy High’s Garcia-Elder Sports Complex. Track events are scheduled to start at 11.
