Jason Alcaraz and Kris Mott represent Live Oak in finals
SAN JOSE – Live Oak seniors Jason Alcaraz and Kris Mott ran their last high school race in the Central Coast Section finals held Friday at San Jose City College.
“No two seniors am I am more proud of for what they accomplished not only on the track but in life as a general,” said Live Oak coach Dean Raymond.
Alcaraz finished in ninth place of 12 competitors in CCS, where he was seeded, in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:31.53. Jacob Evans of Aptos won the event with a time of 4:11.09.
Alcarez, who will be heading to MIT in the fall, was making his first finals appearance.
“I didn’t do as well as I hoped,” Alcaraz said. “My time wasn’t where I wanted. I was hoping to run faster than before. It was a different race. The first lap was a lot faster than I had run before. The entire group was really fast especially on the first lap. It was hard to keep up and I just got worn out.”
Mott, who attended the race to support his fellow Acorn racer, found out at the last minute after he arrived that he was an alternate in the 800 meter race.
After watching Alcaraz race in his event, Mott stayed to watch the race that he would have been competing in and found out 15 minutes before the race began that he was listed as an alternate. When Alcaraz found out, he turned his car around and brought back his uniform and cleats for Mott to use in the race. Mott finished in eighth place with a time of 1:59.01 and still managed a PR of .02 seconds better than the previous week.
“I was happy with it fun,” Mott said. “I came in last, but it was the best race I could have run. It would have been a different story if I had time to prepare. I was not exactly eating right and didn’t have the best night of sleep the night before.”
Mott, who did some training with Alcarez the preceding week, was actually in the lead after the first lap, but was unable to hold on.
“There was no pressure on me, but at the same time I wanted to do good,” Mott said. “I wasn’t quite stretched out and felt it especially on the last 100.”
“It’s not that he ran poorly, but everyone was stronger than him,” Raymond said. “Kris trained with Jason to help him out and encourage him so he have that to full back on. Kris didn’t have to be there. It would have been easy for him to give up. Both races were exciting in their own way. They are both pleased with the progress they made this year.”
In addition to Mott and Alcaraz, seniors Daniel Martinez, Nicki Weatherford, Shelly Hart and Leanne Lopez also received $500 dollar scholarships from the South Valley Wine Auction and other fundraisers. The awards banquet will be on Wednesday.
