New Mexico Week in Review: April 14 - 20

Albuquerque Invitational (Milne)

Albuquerque Academy (boys) and La Cueva (girls) rode herd on this meet. As the season begins to wind down toward championship time, both of these teams are looking very good. But, it wasn't all AA and LC.

St. Pius got a very good pair of 800s out of Steven Duran and Marcos Serna. Add Chris Graham to that mix and the Sartans could be wishing NM had a 4x800. Ultimately, however, it was the sheer number of event winners that AA had that turned the tide of the meet in their favor. That list goes something like this: Jonathan Perry (400), Kevin Wyss (1600), Jordan Lesansee (3200), Noah Weig-Pickering (110H and HJ), Connor Schmidt (PV), Kale Brown (TJ), Nick Slade (LJ), Andrew Torres (DT), and a relay for good measure. And, did my double-taking eyes see that Jordan Lesansee is only an 8th grader? AA could have some insane distance program in about three or four years.

For the girls, it was much the same story, only written by La Cueva. Event winners were Venitra Fields (100), Mason Swanson (400), Tizzana DeHorney (3200), Stephanie Brener (100H), Allison Mady (SP), Akuadasuo Ezenyilimba (DT), and assorted relays.

The moral to this story? Be good in lots of events, win meets.

Sometimes, though, you can raise a lot of eyebrows by being spectacular in one event. While Jennalee Thurman certainly has more than one arrow in her quiver, the 5:03.19 she ran in the 1600 qualifies as spectacular.

Albuquerque Invitational (Wilson)

Over at Wilson Stadium, the rest of the Albuquerque Invitational gathered. 

For those thinking this meet might have gone the way of Los Alamos, there were two 5A schools that made sure it didn't happen. Eldorado's girls and Volcano Vista's boys were the domimant powers in this one. Both schools ceded a little territory to LA in the distance events, but made it up (and more) in sprints, relays, and field events. 

Some meet highlights included Sean Reardon at 1:58.83 in the 800, Cassius Corley and Laura Wendelberger at 22-2 and 17-7, respectively, in the long jump, Kent Johns at 13-6 in the pole vault, Lauren Martinez with a nifty 11-9 in the pole vault, and Mike Budick with a combined 52-2 and 156-2 to win the shot and discus.

B&B Aztec Invitational

Maybe because she just got through dominating the Marilyn Sepulveda on Monday, PV gave Zhianna Flores something of a breather--at least from the grueling 300 hurdles--at this one. Still, she won the 100 and 400. The question of what events to run her in at state continues to build.

Aztec's Sarah Root stole the hurdle show at this one, but--to be fair--it's not the first hurdle show Root has stolen. And a long jump that went over 17 feet adds a little to the aura.

PV's Katie Hegarty had a notable shot put mark at 39-11.5. Both PV and Aztec appear to be very well positioned to make a state title run.

Among the boys, Harrison Fleming edged Niles Thomas of Miyamura in the 1600. The Miyamura freshman hasn't absorbed many defeats yet this season, so this one may be one for the memory banks for Thomas.

PV's Ty Murphy had a nice long jump win at 20-9.5. And PV's relays were solid, rounding out a nice day for the Panthers.

Capital City Invitational

Most, but not all, of Santa Fe was there.

Zack Grand had a nice 1600-800-3200 triple, but it looks like the 1600 absorbed a bit of the energy out of the Santa Fe distance ace. In any case, it stood up as his best time of the day. 

Taos's boys relays were in fine form, missing by a single place in the 1600 SMR making a clean sweep of the baton events. St. Michael's did one better in the throws, taking first and second (plus a little more) in all three throwing events. Doing most of the damage were Santo Copolla, Mathias Hochanadel, and Daniel Ortega. Let's just say that St. Michael's has something going in the throwing department. 

In the girls events, it was a good day to be named Maddie. Maddie Wiebe of Santa Fe won both hurdle events and tied for a win in the pole vault. Maddie Fort of Santa Fe Prep took the javelin and finished second in the high jump. No other name came close to that kind of success. 

Clovis Wildcat Relays

I haven't seen a complete set of boys results on this one yet, so we'll talk about the girls. 

Clovis's own Sasha Smith swept the short sprint titles. Teammate Jenna Sievers turned aside the hurdle and high jump competition, including a 5-4 effort in the HJ. But, it wasn't quite enough to derail the Storm train.

Cleveland swept the four relay events and that more or less sealed the deal for the visitors from Rio Rancho. It didn't hurt, though, the Malia Gonzales had a distance double, or that Alex Winebark had a throws double. 

The small schools got a big triumph from Cara Barnard of Melrose. Barnard won the long jump at 16-10.5.

Goodman Relays

Jal (girls) and Eunice (boys) took top honors at this one. Eunice got a big boost in the throws from James Marley and Mando Rodriguez to come by that win. Jal, meanwhile, scored the lion's share of their points via field events and relays. Field event titles went to Kaitlyn James (HJ), Baylie McDonald (PV), and Kayla  Montez (TJ).

Now you know a little of what happened at the other meet in the state on Monday.

Harvey Wilson Qualifier

Hagerman hosts this one. The Alfalfa Relays are simply not enough track and field for one season for this team, so they do the Harvey Wilson Qualifier as well. 

We'll start the highlight reel here by noting that Gateway Christian's Kase Parker took a convincing trio of titles at 100, 200, and 400 meters. Once again, though, Eunice went away winners, this time getting their power boost from hurdler/jumper Greg Mitchell. Roman Acosta and Mando Rodriguez were both over 150 feet in the javelin.

For the girls, Jal also took their second meet title in the span of five days. Gateway's Kathryn Hammonds made a valiant effort at duplicating Parker's sweep of the sprints, winning the 200 and taking second in the 100 and 400. Gateway Christian has a nice little sprint program going on.

Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions

For detailed coverage of this meet, please see the article linked below.

Onate Invitational

With Texas deep into district level kind of competition, the Las Cruces area schools have to state within the state borders for competition nowadays. Mayfield won the girls title, but for those looking to handicap the 3A boys team race, Silver's win at this meet is definitely worth noting. Silver got key wins from Dakota Bencomo (200) and Branndon Molina (SP) to help make that happen.

Kacee Ramos of Mayfield was back to winning sprint titles after a nice showing at Marilyn Sepulveda. Andrew Thatcher of Las Cruces turned a nice 300 hurdles of 40.32.  Teammate Isaiah McIntyre took the 100H and LJ titles. Britani Gonzalez of Santa Teresa topped Meghan Aguilera of Onate in a showdown 800. Aguilera, however, did get a win in the 3200. 

Ruidoso Invitational

Sometimes, things just jump out at you. One of those things might have been the 1600 and 3200 results (boys) from this meet. Belen was absolutely dominant. File this little piece of information away and pull it out again when cross country starts up again in the fall. Belen appears to be a rising star in the world of NM distance.

Speaking of rising stars, let's give a little nod in the direction of Socorro's Adam Paz who won the long jump at 20-6 and the triple jump at 44-8.5. After last week, I think we now have a clear 3A triple jump favorite.

Among the girls, Ruidoso freshman Andi Harrelson got a few nods of recognition as well, winning the long jump at 16-1.5. According to my records (which are, admittedly, incomplete), that puts her at #2 in the 3A long jump.