Bovina's Ortiz advances to state in 1,600 and 3,200

LEVELLAND, Texas — Bovina junior Edgar Ortiz is on his way to the big show again in Texas small-school track.

Ortiz, who made it to state in the 3,200 last year, qualified in the 1,600 and 3,200 by winning both events in Class 1A regional competition this weekend at South Plains College.

Ortiz ran an unofficial time of 10 minutes, 17 seconds in Friday’s 3,200, winning by around 15 seconds, Mustangs coach Tony Epps said. On Saturday, he lost the lead on the final lap but rallied to nip a runner from Iraan for the win in a personal-best time of 4:48.35.

Epps said Ortiz should have a chance to do well in state competition at the University of Texas in Austin in two weeks, particularly in the 3,200 where he may be a contender for the title.

“I haven’t had a chance to see what anybody’s run around the state, but if Edgar can run like he did yesterday, I think he’s got a good shot at it,” Epps said.

Ortiz was the only qualifier from area schools at SPC. Athletes needed to finish in the top two of 16 in an event to advance.

The Mustangs’ other entrant, junior Hugo Martinez, placed ninth in discus with a throw of 124 feet.

Bovina’s girls had two freshman entrants. Hilda Quintero came in ninth in the 3,200 in a time of 13:17, while Jessica Bachicha placed ninth in shot put at around 30 feet and 12th in discus at 91-11.

Farwell’s boys scored five points, led by senior Cale Stevenson with a personal-best 13 feet, 6 inches in pole vault. Winner Thomas Baggett of Sundown and runnerup Jared Jennings of Iraan both cleared 14 feet.

Also scoring for the Steers was senior Jose Cabello, who placed sixth in shot put at 46-4. The top four throwers all went more than 50 feet, Farwell coach Jacob Thompson said, with Sundown’s Tyler Menges winning at 54-0 1/2.

Farwell’s girls competed in four events, the highlight coming from a school-record pole vault effort of 7-0 by sophomore Talethia Nolte. Lady Blue coach Doug Boyd said Nolte finished around 10th in the competition.

Freshman Salida Edwards competed in long jump on Friday and triple jump on Saturday. She made the finals in long jump, finishing eighth at 15-2, and did not get out of the preliminary round in triple jump where she went 30-5.

The Lady Blue’s 400 relay team of freshman Dellani Jones, junior Micah Christian, sophomore Jennifer DeLeon and Edwards didn’t get out of Friday’s preliminaries. Their time was 54.1 seconds.