CHS squads struggle in state track

Sophomore Vanessa O’Neal tries to avoid traffic as she takes a handoff from teammate Kim Perkins during the Class 5A girls 1,600 relay finals on Saturday in state track competition at Albuquerque. Photo by Rick White

ALBUQUERQUE — The Clovis Lady Wildcats went from state-trophy contenders to pretenders in a hurry Saturday at the Class 5A state track meet.

Clovis started the third and final day of the meet at the University of New Mexico track and field stadium by winning its fourth-straight 400-meter relay title. But not much went right the rest of the way.

Sophomore Kim Perkins held on for second in the 300-meter hurdles and sophomore Brittany Blackmon took third in the high jump, but the Lady Wildcats faltered badly in the 800 and 1,600 relays and had their worst finish in five years under coach Darrel Ray.

La Cueva won the 5A crown with 61 points. Clovis was seventh with 27.

“The first day we had great times and looked like we were in good shape,” Ray said. “But then some little things started breaking down.

“All in all, it was pretty disappointing.”

Ray said conditioning and inexperience caught up with the Lady Wildcats during the three-day meet.

“We came up here hoping to win three relays and we had the fastest time in two of them and were just a fraction of a second out in the third. But we couldn’t bring it back (for the finals).”

The meet also marked the end of a brilliant four-year track career for Clovis senior Monique Walker, who ran the anchor leg on all three Lady Cats relays Saturday. She also finished fifth in the 200.

“She’s just a great competitor,” Ray said. “But she had a really troubled senior year.”

Walker, who signed to play volleyball at Division I South Carolina State, injured her knee a month ago while long jumping and was never really able to get into track shape, Ray said.

“Now she can go to college and relax a little and just worry about school and concentrate on one sport,” he said.

In the 5A boys meet, the Wildcats stumbled home to their worst finish in five years.

Brian Romero led Clovis to a runnerup finish in the medley relay Saturday and Phillip Williams took third in the long jump Friday, but otherwise the last two days were a disaster for the Wildcats.

“The weather was nice,” fifth-year Wildcats coach Darren Kelley said when asked to find a silver lining after Clovis finished tied for ninth with 17 points.

“We didn’t compete and we didn’t come prepared to run,” said Kelley, minutes after watching the Wildcats finish last in the meet-ending 1,600-meter relay.

“But we’ve come a long ways this year. We won the district title and we have a strong core of guys returning.”

La Cueva held off Rio Rancho and Highland to win its eighth-straight title.

Class 5A

Girls

Team scores: 1, La Cueva 61; 2, Eldorado 52; 3, Gallup 48; 4, Highland 46; 5, Alamogordo 37; 6, Rio Rancho 33; 7, Clovis 27; 8, Carlsbad 24; 9, Cibola 22; 10, Hobbs 21; 11, Santa Fe 18; 12, Valley 17; 12 Mayfield 17; 14 Manzano 12; 15, Los Lunas 11; 16, Sandia 5; 17, Las Cruces 2; 18, Albuquerque High 1.

Saturday’s results

400 relay — 1, Clovis, 49.61. 2, La Cueva, 49.88. 3, Highland, 49.98.

800 relay — 1, La Cueva, 1:44.65. 2, Eldorado, 1:44.75. 3, Highland, 1:45.13. 4, Clovis, 1:46.11.

1,600 relay — 1, Gallup, 4:05.77. 2, Eldorado, 4:08.68. 3, Rio Rancho, 4:08.94. 6, Clovis, 4:13.80.

Distance medley — 1, Highland, 4:17.15. 2, Carlsbad, 4:19.39. 3, Eldorado, 4:19.81.

100 — 1, Tressi Richardson, Cibola, 12.36. 2, Kaylie Brooks, Manzano, 12.37. 3, Whitney Hughes, La Cueva, 12.44.

200 — 1, Tressi Richardson, Cibola, 26.19. 2, Carissa McGee, Mayfield, 26.42. 3, Courtney Wright, Santa Fe, 26.45. 5, Monique Walker, Clovis, 26.69.

400 — 1, Christina Zarrella, Rio Rancho, 58.12. 2, Tanya Wilson, Gallup, 58.86. 3, Caitlin Demarest, Eldorado, 58.87.

3,200 — 1, Lindsay Barr, La Cueva, 11:43.34. 2, Sheyenne Lewis, Gallup, 11:48.94. 3, Kelly McCabe, Highland, 11:53.54.

100 hurdles — 1, Danielle Delone, Alamogordo, 15.74. 2, Nizhoni Fairey, Gallup, 15.85. 3, Bailey Foster, La Cueva, 15.90.

300 hurdles — 1, Nizhoni Fairey, Gallup, 45.83. 2, Kim Perkins, Clovis, 46.59. 3, Alexandra Darling, La Cueva, 46.66.

Triple jump — 1, Demetri Young, Hobbs, 36-11 1/2. 2, Deanna Young, Highland, 35-4 1/2. 3, Tyanna Trammel, Manzano, 35-0.

High Jump — 1, Kim Frenz, Rio Rancho, 5-2. 2, Danielle Delone, Alamogordo, 5-2. 3, Brittany Blackmon, Clovis, 5-0.

Discus — 1, Michelle Nelson, Valley, 141-11. 2, Vanessa Frangos, Eldorado, 124-11. 3, Alyssa Hernandez, Alamogordo, 119-8.

Friday’s results

Long jump — 1, Christina Zarrells, Rio Rancho, 17-9 1/4. 2, Danielle Delone, Alamogordo, 16-3 1/2. 3, Deanna Young, Highland, 16-3.

1,600 meters — 1, Kelly McCabe, Highland, 5:16.21. 2, Sheyenne Lewis, Gallup, 5:18.95. 3, JoJo Calderon, Carlsbad, 5:23.24.

Shot put — 1, Michelle Nelson, Valley, 43-4 1/4. 2, Tiffany Phillips, Los Lunas, 38-9. 3, Brianna Paxton, La Cueva, 38-5.

Javelin — 1, Courtney Wright, Santa Fe, 126-9. 2, Teresa Pacheco, Mayfield, 123-1. 3, Kelli Egan, Carlsbad, 115-6.

Late Thursday results

Pole vault — 1, Alex Berlin, Eldorado, 10-6 (ties state record by Melissa Muchmore, Sandia, 2003). 2, Stephanie Goodmon, Hobbs, 10-0. 3, Bridgette Ruiz, Highland, 9-6. 6, Cristin Vick, Clovis, 8-6.

Boys

Team scores: 1, La Cueva 88; 2, Rio Rancho 72; 3, Highland 60; 4, Alamogordo 37; 5, Eldorado 32; 6, Mayfield 31; 7, Cibola 27; 7, Los Lunas 27; 9, Clovis 17; 9, Albuquerque 17; 11, Carlsbad 11; 12, Manzano 9; 13 Santa Fe 8; 14 Del Norte 4; 14 Valley 4; 16, Las Cruces 3; 16, Gadsden 3; 18 W.Mesa 2; 18, Gallup 2.

Saturday’s results

400 relay — 1, Alamogordo, 42.44. 2, Rio Rancho, 42.52. 3, Highland, 43.10. 6, Clovis, 43.53.

800 relay — 1, Mayfield, 1:28.78. 2, Rio Rancho, 1:29.35. 3, Cibola, 1:29.52.

1,600 relay — 1, Rio Rancho, 3:23.65. 2, Los Lunas, 3:24.78. 3, La Cueva, 3:24.96.

Distance medley — 1, Highland, 3:35.93. 2, Clovis, 3:36.67. 3, Los Lunas, 3:36.96.

100 — 1, Sean Burns, Cibola, 10.74. 2, Bryon Simpson, Rio Rancho, 10.86. 3, Phil Merritt, Rio Rancho, 11.02.

200 — 1, Chris Williams, Rio Rancho, 22.44. 2, Jared Rule, La Cueva, 22.97. 3, Brennan Biamonte, Albuquerque High, 23.10.

400 — 1, Gregory Young, Albuquerque High, 49.14. 2, Jarrin Soloman, La Cueva, 49.37. 3, Kurt Henry, Cibola, 49.55.

3,200 — 1, Shadrack Kiptoo, La Cueva, 9:18.04. 2, Matt Tebo, Eldorado, 9:54.82. 3, Henry Valdez, Santa Fe, 10:07.17.

110 hurdles — 1, Jay White, Alamogordo, 14.53. 2, Clint McPeak, La Cueva, 14.91. 3, Jeremy Lawson, Mayfield, 14.92.

300 hurdles — 1, Jay White, Alamogordo, 39.20. 2, Ian Clark, Highland, 39.42. 3, Derek McDonald, Eldorado, 39.80.

Triple jump — 1, Jeremy Lawson, Mayfield, 45-10 1/4. 2, Quentin Burrell, Highland, 45-4 3/4. 3, Domnick Meadows, Del Norte, 43-6 1/4.

Javelin — 1, Anthony Fairbanks, Highland, 198-6. 2, Ryan Rottinger, La Cueva, 185-1. 3, Breck Vernon, Manzano, 181-5.

Friday’s results

1,600 — 1, Shadrack Kiptoo, La Cueva, 4:12.84 (state record, previous 4:15.1, Chip Smith, Sandia, 1988). 2, Nick Arguelles, Highland, 4:29.14. 3, Derek Skinner, La Cueva, 4:30.84.

Discus — 1, Brandon McKinney, Rio Rancho, 183-9 (state record, previous 178-0, by Jim Braye, Sandia, 1969). 2, Travis Dekker, La Cueva, 169-4. 3, Aaron Lewis, La Cueva, 165-5. 6, Shea Chase, Clovis, 146-6.

Pole vault — 1, Zach Graham, Carlsbad, 15-0. 2, David Greer, Rio Rancho, 13-6. 3, Jody Hesh, Manzano, 13-0.

Long jump — 1, Derek McDonald, Eldorado, 23-1. 2, Quentin Burrell, Highland, 22-5. 3, Phillip Williams, Clovis, 22-4 1/2. 6, Tanner Williams, Clovis, 20-7 1/2.