Great Southwest a Great Success


Once they got all the athletes through the door, the 2016 version of the Great Southwest Classic Indoor proved to be a rousing success. Photos by Alan Versaw.

The drawing power the outdoor version of this meet has enjoyed for years seems now to be trickling over to the indoor version of the meet. While all events were not equally competitive, enough of the events were dazzlingly competitive, and enough so to count the 2016 edition of the meet as a resounding success.

New Mexico got to see the #1 ranked high school male and female pole vaulters in action. Neither established a new standard for the season, but both Armand Duplantis and Andrea Willis were solid in winning their events and putting on a show as advertised.

Florida freshman Tyrese Cooper tied a freshman class record for 60 meters at 6.78 seconds. Norman Grimes looked polished going over the 60 hurdles in 7.89 in his first indoor action of the season. Jalen Seals made a sweep of the horizontal jumps at 24-6.25 and 48-0.5.

All evening long, outstanding performances continued to pour in, mostly from athletes flooding across the border from Texas, many from as far away as the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex.

As a sidebar of Cooper's national freshman class record in the 60 meter dash, the mark was achieved in a field that included two post-collegiate sprinters--Rushane Scott and Deviyon Pendergrass. A third post-collegiate sprinter, Emmanuel Matadi showed up in heat eight and won the event at 6.65. Pendergrass also ran in the top heat of the 200.

Though many New Mexico athletes stayed away from the meet on account of the NMAA ruling that participation in this meet costs the athlete one allowable meet during the outdoor season, still others showed up and took on the best competition that Texas, Colorado, and a few others states cared to send to Albuquerque. And, Hope Christian showed up with what appeared to be their entire squad (and a very large squad it is for a relatively small school).

My reading of those tea leaves was that Hope deemed the interstate competition and experience derived from this meet would eventually bring a greater yield than yet another 3A/4A quadrangular they might otherwise shoehorn into their schedule. Sometimes, it helps to see bigger in order to go bigger.

Arguably, the highlight of the evening for New Mexico was a 1:56.80 800 winner off the spikes of Steven Duran. From the first turn through the finish of the race, nobody managed so much as a whimper of resistance to Duran's relentless pace.

But, New Mexico also produced what could be considered the most exciting race of the evening as well. Very early in the boys mile, it became clear that it would boil down to a showdown between Devin Paredes and Michael Tenorio. For better than seven of the eight laps, Paredes set the pace while Tenorio sat contentedly on his heels. Tenorio gave every impression of being the more relaxed and in control of the pair, but you never really know until someone makes a break. 


When Tenorio made his break on the final lap, Paredes could summon no response. Tenorio increased his gap with every stride and ended up with better than two full seconds of advantage at 4:37.21, lapping a few individuals along the way. That kind of time won't win state, but it is indicative of excellent early-season fitness nevertheless. 

Peter Siminski held on for a 3200 win in 10:16 for the lone other New Mexico individual title of the meet. 

Aubri Wrye earned the top New Mexico girls finish with a fourth place in the mile at just over 5:40.

Meet Results, Photos, and Video