Another Fine Week of Track and Field

Clovis Wildcat Relays

Although only the boys side of the meet has results available, it's not as if that fact leaves us with nothing to talk about.

Luis Martinez took advantage of the lower elevation in Clovis to hammer out a 16/32 double. And the hammering went pretty well, to the tune of 4:20.62 in the 1600 and 9:28.57 in the 3200.

La Cueva and host school Clovis both posted very strong 4x400 times in the low 3:20s. All signs are pointint to a very strong contest in that event at state. And speaking of 400s, that 48.97 by Brandon Lawrence of Cleveland should have a few people thinking. Mostly, they're probably thinking how few holes there are in the Cleveland slate of events. 

Clovis's own Kenneth Betts was running his own little throwing clinic at this meet, reaching to 56-7.25 in the shot put, and 151-5 in the discus.

Three guys under 10.8 in the 100 is worth noting, but it would be still more worth noting if wind readings and FAT times were attached to those marks. With the variability of hand timing such a large percentage of the overal event time for the 100, 110H, and 200 it's dicey to make too much of these marks. For now, note that Devin Enslen took first in a very fast 100 field, and keep a mental sticky note on his name for when state rolls around.

Marilyn Sepulveda Classic

What do you get when you put (most of) the best track and field athletes in the state on the same track? A great meet. New Mexico is fortunate to have a mid-season showcase event like the Sepulveda Classic. 

Britni Jo Smith of Carlsbad became the first girl in the state to reach 140 in the javelin this season. Roughly on a par with that mark is Regina Okoye's 39-0 triple jump. 

Teo Cutter already noted this in his coverage of the meet (linked below), but Seth Booker's hurdle performance was one to go home and think about. Booker crushed both events with a 14.55 and a 39.16. Isaiah Lintz of Hobbs was another big double winner, going 22-6.5 in the long jump and 45-2.5 in the triple.

And, a big hats off to those who came to the Sepulveda Classic and posted multiple great marks. In addition to those mentioned just above, that would include Ricky Milks, Nicole Jenrette, Jonathan Millar, Kaylin Martin, Alexis Wright, Jackson Thomas, and Michelle Traynham.

Onate Invitational

Before going any further, let me take a moment to point to the fact that whoever did the scoring for this meet correctly recorded the hand times to tenths. In a world where stopwatches report an accuracy beyond anything the human hand is capable of, it's great to see someone properly recording hand times to tenths.

And there were a few nice hand times to record (please note below that the hand time recorded for Ricky Milks also includes the mandatory .24 second adjustment for using a hand time as a future seed mark). In addition to Milks's mark, there were a couple of nice times for Regina Marquez in the 1600 and 3200, a 22.6h for Dominic Brown of Silver City in the 200, and a 40.7h for Andrew Little of Silver City in the 300 hurdles.

The best marks out of this meet, however, may have been field event marks. Branndon Molina and Torion Brown were both over 140 in the discus, the same two guys were over 45 in the shot put, QuDymm Scarbrough of Onate was 21-6 in the long jump, and Hannah Shoemaker of Las Cruces at 35-3 in the shot.

Silver's Peter Valentine and Joseph Morales outkick Santa Teresa's Jesus Martinez in the final meters of the 800 where all three finished at 2:04 or under. Photo by Cindy Lee.

It was a meet that was relatively small in numbers but not small in performances.

Ruidoso Invitational

Schools larger and schools smaller came to this one. Ruidoso provided a bit of a crossroads for programs that rarely compete against one another. 

Socorro's Ray Vaiza picked up a nice triple, winning all three sprints. His 400 continues to look like his best race. Vaiza won that one in 51.95. And, when you throw in his long jump of 20-10, you have a four event winner. That's something you don't often see at a track meet of any size. Socorro's Zoe Howell, already one of the best 3A 400s in the state, added a 2:27.99 800 to her resume, just behind Amber Saiz of Belen.

Cara and Caley Barnard of Melrose continue to look like the closest thing to a threat Fort Sumner is going to see in 1A. This weekend, the Barnard sisters jumped all three events together. If you're keeping score at home, the places went 1-2, 2-1, 2-4. 

Valencia's girls got the best of the throwing events, with Jenae Wolfram winning the shot and disc and Michelle Traynham the javelin. Traynham added a second in the shot.

Sundevil Invitational

This meet didn't quite make it to the weekend, but you take the Albuquerque Academy track when you can get it.

Krista Armstead's 25.11 in the 200 goes up on the board as a very nice mark, but it appears that she was sticking to one event at this meet.

Robertson's 3:30.53 4x400 should raise a few eyebrows of 3A coaches around the state. That's going to be a tough time to match within the classification.

Therman Jordan Relays

Deming was the place to be for most of the schools in the southwest corner of the state. Performances seemed a little subdued out of this meet for what we've come to expect from many of the athletes involved. So, I did a little checking on the weather history. Wind could easily have been a factor at this one. Otherwise, it looks like a reasonably nice day in Deming. It's also worth noting that Lordsburg was without Kenny Evans at this one. But, there's another meet in Cobre this weekend, so we'll wait and see what happens there before drawing any conclusions. 

For now, we'll take note of Travis Mayberry's (Cliff High School) consistency in the triple jump. This weekend, he went 41-4. Better still, Natalie Castellanos of Gadsden pulled off four wins in the same meet, taking the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, long jump, and triple jump. That would be a lot of take-offs and landings for one day.