CHS harriers close second at Borger meet

BORGER, Texas — The Hereford Whitefaces had just enough to edge out Clovis High for the boys Division II team championship Saturday in the season-opening Borger Invitational cross country meet.

Hereford, led by individual champion Jesus Huerta (15:53 over 3,000 meters), finished with 53 points to 54 for the Wildcats. Amarillo Tascosa came in third out of seven full teams with 78 points.

Senior Brian Romero paced Clovis, finishing second to Huerta in 16:27, and Matt Appleman finished fifth.

Hereford put four runners in the top 11, just enough to carry a 31st-place finish by its No. 5 runner.

In girls competition, Amarillo High Gold took team honors with a perfect score of 15, well ahead of runnerup Hereford (75) and the third-place Lady Cats (94).

Bridget Garza led the Lady Sandies — who actually took the top six places — with a time of 11:55 over two miles. Clovis’ best finish was by Megan Willis, ninth in 12:57.

CHS boys drop three in tourney — Clovis High boys soccer coach Shaun Gill said the Wildcats saw three of the top teams in Class 5A over the weekend in the Alamogordo round-robin tournament.

The Cats (0-7) lost all three matches, but gave the host Tigers all they wanted on Saturday morning in a 2-1 loss. On Friday, Clovis lost to fourth-ranked Mayfield 5-0 before finishing with an 8-0 loss to second-ranked Las Cruces on Saturday afternoon.

“The guys tried hard,” Gill said. “They were just running low on juice. They put all their energy into trying to win in the morning.”

Junior Michael Fernandez put Clovis ahead against Alamo about 10 minutes into the match when he punched in a rebound shot after Matt Loewen’s attempt deflected off the Tigers’ goalkeeper. That lead held up until Alamogordo scored with about five minutes left in the half.

Alamo, also ranked in the top 10 in 5A, scored the deciding goal with about three minutes left.

“The guys did an excellent job — they played their hearts out,” Gill said. “They really improved on what they did (Friday) and last weekend (in the season-opening Clovis Invitational).”