Skyler McCall of Los Alamos had a nice opening meet last weekend and comes back to Rio Rancho for an even sterner test this weekend. Photo by Blake Wood.
For the first time in 2014, it really is a full slate of high school track and field across the Land of Enchantment. Here's what you can look forward to this weekend:
| 03/13 |
It looks like Thursday Night Lights in Artesia this week. And football under the lights has nothing on the 4x400 under the lights, so be sure to stick around for the end of the show. Take note, however, that this is not the big school meet at Artesia. This the the meet for the smaller communities in southeast New Mexico.
Artesia High School
|
Artesia, NM |
| 03/14 |
Alamogordo and Rio Rancho--or at least a part of Rio Rancho--cruise into town to square off against the Las Cruces schools. There should be some nice measuring of power going on at this one as the Las Cruces schools have mostly gone their separate ways to meets to this point in the season.
Las Cruces High School
|
Las Cruces, NM |
| 03/14 |
The big schools of SE New Mexico, plus a couple of the larger Texas schools in the area, converge on Carlsbad for the first in-state appeareance this season of Artesia, Hobbs, Roswell, Goddard, and Carlsbad.
Carlsbad High School
|
Carlsbad, NM |
| 03/15 |
In the shadow of the Cleveland Kickoff, Bernalillo hosts a smaller meet mostly geared toward smaller schools. But, the meet is still a good draw, pulling in several schools from the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area, plus Gallup and Robertson are listed as coming as well.
Bernalillo High School
|
Bernalillo, NM |
| 03/15 |
Early season bragging rights for the Albuquerque big schools are very much on the line at this one. Throw Los Alamos into the mix, and you end up with a pretty volatile recipe for this early in the season. Expect several rankings-topping kind of marks to emerge out of this one, and look for coverage specific to the meet to follow on MileSplit New Mexico.
Sue Cleveland High School
|
Rio Rancho, NM |
| 03/15 |
Save for Santa Fe Indian School, it's entirely 2A and smaller schools converging on Jemez Valley on Saturday. East Mountain should get a nice view of where they stand versus small-school competition, but they've already hung well with some larger schools.
Jemez Valley High School
|
Jemez, NM |
| 03/15 |
This one looks like a collision of 4A powers--sending Belen, Los Lunas, Moriarty, Gallup (perhaps a split squad with Bernalillo?), Miyamura, and a few others into the same crucible.
Belen High School
|
Belen, NM |
| 03/15 |
And, of course, NW New Mexico converges on Piedra Vista. Though probably not the largest, this will definitely be among the larger meets in New Mexico this weekend. The presence of Aztec, Bloomfield, Farmington, and PV all in the same meet more or less guarantees that you're going to see some nice performances and get several previews of state title contending kind of athletes. Be sure to pack the camera.
Piedra Vista High School
|
Farmington, NM |
| 03/15 |
Rehoboth Christian Invitational For the smaller schools on the western end of New Mexico, there is the Rehoboth Christian Invitational. This meet should provide a very nice early glimpse of how strong the Zuni track and field programs are this spring. It won't tell us everything, of course, but it will give us a clue.
Rehoboth Christian High School
|
Rehoboth, NM |
Please send results as they become available, and I will get them posted to athlete pages as quickly as possible.
If you take a nice photo or two, please feel welcome to pass those along. Otherwise, you may end up seeing a lot of Los Alamos and Albuquerque Academy photos (because that's where my current sources are connected) this spring. I like LA and AA and all, but I'm very pleased to feature other schools on an equitable standing as well!