Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Texico junior Braden Vaughan finished fifth in the shot put. CNJ photo by Eric Kluth.
TEXICO — Texico dominated the field events and relays, Melrose the sprints, and House’s Haily Lee anything she entered.
Scoring in all but two events, the Texico girls remained undefeated in four meets this season with a 54-point win over House Tuesday at the Texico Invitational track meet.
“We don’t have a lot of standouts,” Texico coach John Irwin said. “We just run you to death.”
Irwin has always believed in building strong relay teams and it showed at Tuesday’s nine-team meet as the Lady Wolverines won three relays and finished second in the fourth.
“You can take kids that wouldn’t be able to score in open events, but if you can find the right combination, they can have success in relays,” Irwin said.
Meanwhile, the Texico boys captured their first meet this season in convincing fashion.
The Wolverines swept the top five spots in the shot and discus while piling up 146 points. They also won the 400 and 800 relays.
Melrose finished second in the boys meet with 90 points behind a strong effort by sophomore sprinter Carlos Ruiz, who caught Texico’s Joe Zaikowski on the backstretch to complete a sweep of the 100 and 200 meters and also ran the anchor leg on the Buffaloes’ first-place 1,600-meter relay team.
Ruiz ran a season-best 22.9 in the 200.
“I could see he was getting tired,” Ruiz said. “I knew I was going to catch him.”
Ruiz, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards in the fall, isn’t the only Melrose speedster not old enough to have a driver’s license.
Eighth-grader Janea Eshelman also swept the girls 100 and 200.
“It’s just one of the those things where God just blessed her with a lot of ability,” Melrose coach Casey Pack said.
“I think the first track meet of the year she was a little nervous, but since then she’s settled down.”
While Eshelman is just starting what looks like a promising future, Lee is putting the finishing touches on a stellar career in her senior season.
Lee won five events, highlighted by a season-best jump of 17-1 in the long jump. She also remained undefeated in the 100 and 300 hurdles.
“I had a pretty good day in the field events,” Lee said. “But with the wind it was kind of hard in the running events.”
Other multiple winners included:
* Floyd’s Kelli Johnson won the 1,600 and 3,200;
* Texico’s Blake Curtis won the shot and discus;
* Grady’s Jennifer Blackburn in the javelin and discus;
* Stephen Oglesby of Logan in the 800 and 1,600.
Texico Invitational
Boys
Team standings: 1. Texico 146; 2. Melrose 90; 3. Floyd 81; 4. Logan 47; 5. House 25; 6. (tie) Elida, Grady 16; 8. Tucumcari 10; 9. San Jon 3; 10. Dora 0.
Field events
Javelin: 1. Vaughan, Texico 154-8 1/2; 2. Lindsey, Grady 148-0; 3. Graham, Melrose 134-2.
Triple jump: 1. Zaikowski, Texico 41-9; 2. Long, Floyd 40-4 1/2; 3. Ruiz, Melrose 38-2 1/2.
Long jump: 1. Long, Floyd, 21-1 3/4; 2. Zaikowski, Texico 21-0; 3. Garrison, Texico 18-5 1/2.
High jump: 1. Oglesby, Logan 5-4; 2. Mayfield, Texico 5-4; 3. Widmark, House 5-3.
Pole vault: 1. Foust, House 9-6.
Discus: 1. Curtis, Texico 128-2; 2. Bailey, Texico 126-8 1/4; 3. Vaughan, Texico 122-1 1/4.
Shot put: 1. Curtis 47-5; 2. Bailey 47-2; 3. Vannatta 40-7.
Running events
110 hurdles: 1. Gilmore, Elida 18.46; 2. Sena, Texico 19.15; 3. Scott, Texico 19.85.
100: 1. Ruiz, Melrose 11.31; 2. Kulback, Logan 11.56; 3. Garrison, Texico 11.80.
400: 1. Rush, Melrose 54.39; 2. Martinez, Floyd 57.24; 3. Dement, Floyd 58.81.
1,600: 1. Mitchell, Floyd 5:19.73; 2. Varela, Floyd 5:23.60; 3. Russell, Melrose 5:29.26.
400 relay: 1. Texico 46.33; 2. Melrose 50.25; 3. Floyd 51.06.
800 relay: 1. Texico 1:37.00; 2. Melrose 1:39.29; 3. Floyd 1:44.06.
800: 1. Oglesby, Logan 2:19.17; 2. Johnson, Melrose 2:20.82; 3. Johnson, Floyd 2:23.20.
300 hurdles: 1. Scott, Texico 48.68; 2. Park, Melrose 50.59; 3. Gilmore, Elida 51.14.
1,600 medley relay: 1. Tucumcari 3:54.87; 2. Floyd 4:07.82; 3. Texico 4:17.50.
200: 1. Ruiz, Melrose 22.91; 2. Zaikowski, Texico 23.29; 3. Kulback, Logan 24.43.
3,200: 1. Robertson, Melrose 12:03.87; 2. Meza, Texico 13:00.12; 3. Johnson, Floyd 13:01.77.
1,600 relay: 1. Melrose 3:48.02; 2. Floyd 3:51.39; 3. Texico 3:52.72.
Girls
Team standings: 1. Texico 140; 2. House 86; 3. Floyd 77; 4. Melrose 36; 5. San Jon 35; 6. Grady 28; 7. Elida 24; 8. Logan 18; 9. Dora 5; 10. Tucumcari 0.
Field events
Javelin: 1. Blackburn, Grady 107-1; 2. L. Lee, House 100-0; 3. O’Steen, House 89-7.
Triple jump: 1. H. Lee, House 35-2 1/4; 2. Chenault, Elida 32-6 1/2; 3. Bilberry, Dora 31-9.
Long jump: 1. H. Lee, 17-1; 2. Chenault, Elida 16-9 1/2; 3. Parmer, Texico 16-6 1/2.
High jump: 1. Pullen, San Jon 4-8; 2. Bebout, Logan 4-6; 3. Lyons, House 4-6.
Pole vault: 1. H. Lee, House 8-8; 2. S. Lee, House 8-0; 3. Rivers, Texico 8-0.
Discus: 1. Blackburn, Grady 99-6; 2. Richardson, Texico 95-2; 3. Queener, Texico 91-8 1/2.
Shot put: 1. Hadley, Texico 30-4; 2. O’Steen, House 30-2; 3. Smith, Texico 29-2 1/2.
Running events
100 hurdles: 1. H. Lee, House 16.02; 2. Slutz, San Jon 16.73; 3. Chenault, Elida 17.04.
100: 1. Eshelman, Melrose 13.04; 2. Moss, Floyd 13.19; 3. Parmer, Texico 13.35.
400: 1. Parmer, Texico 1:05.89; 2. Mayfield, Texico 1:06.33; 3. Paiz, Floyd 1:06.36.
1,600: 1. Johnson, Floyd 6:08.03; 2. Slutz, San Jon 6:25.53; 3. Tellez, San Jon 6:56.76.
400 relay: 1. Texico 53.13; 2. Floyd 53.94; 3. Logan 55.88.
800 relay: 1. Texico 1:53.19; 2. Floyd 1:55.34; 3. Melrose 1:58.18.
800: 1. L. Lee, House 2:38.61; 2. Johnson, Floyd 2:41.11; 3. Vega, Texico 2:42.58.
300 hurdles: 1. H. Lee 48.24; 2. Carpenter, Floyd 50.52; 3. Turner, Texico 51.79.
1,600 medley relay: 1. Texico 4:51.05; 2. House 5:00.53; 3. Floyd 5:02.10.
200: 1. Eshelman, Melrose 26.57; 2. Moss, Floyd 27.42; 3. Queener, Texico 28.19.
3,200: 1. Johnson, F.oyd 13:26.22; 2. Hudson, Elida 15:47.67; 3. Ortiz, Texico 16:34.56.
1,600 relay: 1. Floyd 4:28.77; 2. Texico 4:31.57; 3. Melrose 4:38.16.