Is this the year that Fort Sumner's recent stranglehold on 1A girls track and field is broken?
Fort Sumner's state title in 2011, their fifth consecutive state title, was fueled largely by a near-complete sweep of the relay events. Fort Sumner claimed titles in the 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400. They also took a fifth in the 1600 meter sprint medley relay. That point total was unrivaled in the 1A girls ranks. Relays are, at some level, a numbers game, and Fort Sumner had the numbers to play the game.
The bad news for anyone hoping to overhaul Fort Sumner this year is that only one point-producing senior walked the aisle at Fort Sumner's graduation last spring. The franchise is back, meaning any team that has designs on beating Fort Sumner had better be planning on being a good deal stronger than last year, because the best-case scenario for the challengers appears to be that Fort Sumner is only as strong as last year.
The biggest producers for the Vixen this spring figure to be, once again, hurdler Ashley Landreth, sprinter LaNay Crenshaw, and distance runner Christa Boyle (who claimed all three distance titles last spring). Relays will be loaded once again.
Cimarron finished 21 points back of Fort Sumner in second last year. But, Cimarron graduated Lacy Harris, Annie Stirling, and Madison Coss. You never take that kind of hit in commencement exercises without feeling it the next year. Still, well-coached teams have a way of rebounding from even this kind of blow. So, don't be too surprised if the team in red and white is right back in the thick of things by the first weekend in May.
Melrose had a nice showing at state last year, largely thanks to the efforts of sophomore Cara Barnard and 8th grader Caley Barnard. Those two figure to do some similar damage, principally in the sprints and jumps, again this year. Kelsey Draper figures to add some more pole vault points. But, as already noted, relays tend to be a numbers game and Melrose was challenged on that front last spring. If they haven't acquired some help in that realm for this spring, it's going to be tough to close the gap on Fort Sumner.
Floyd has a solid points producer in distance runner Tessa Nall, but they look to be in need of more girls producing Nall kind of points to climb into serious contention.
2011 NM HS F Outdoor Track Team Scores (Returners Only)
Calculated as of February 26, 2012
These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Athletes whose graduation years are unknown were left out of the list.