Lady Cats place eighth at 5A meet

GALLUP — Clovis High’s girls didn’t fare quite as well as they’d hoped in Saturday’s Class 5A state cross country meet, but coach Brian Stacy wasn’t that upset.

The Lady Wildcats finished eighth out of 15 teams with 204 points. Host Gallup won the meet with 52 points, followed by Eldorado at 67.

Freshman Caitlin Waters and eight-grader Michelle Schenck led the Lady Cats, placing 11th and 13th in times of 20 minutes, 17 seconds and 20:19, respectively.

“Caitlin and Michelle were in a battle (for 11th with two other runners),” Stacy said. “With about 500 yards left, you had all four of them together.

“Our girls competed well. Everybody was just back a little bit (from what he had hoped), but the girls were pleased with how it went.”

Stacy thought his team could possibly finish in the top five at state. District 4-5A rival Carlsbad came in third with 139 points, but could not push the top two teams.

“I honestly thought we could be fifth, but the thing that kind of shocked me was how far Gallup and Eldorado were ahead of everybody else,” he said. “Gallup and Eldorado ran fantastic.”

Cibola’s Vanessa Ortiz was the individual winner with a time of 18:29 for the three-mile course.

Class 5A girls

Team standings: 1. Gallup 52; 2. Eldorado 67; 3. Carlsbad 139; 4. Rio Rancho 143; 5. Sandia 147; 6. Highland 151; 7. Albuquerque High 201; 8. Clovis 204; 9. Cibola 227; 10. La Cueva 245; 11. Los Lunas 266; 12. Mayfield 277; 13. Onate 281; 14. Las Cruces High 389; 15. Hobbs 393; NS. Alamogordo, Gadsden, Manzano, Valley.

Individual winner: Vanessa Ortiz, Cibola 18:29.

Clovis results: 11. Caitlin Waters 20:17; 13. Michelle Schenck 20:19; 44. Kayla Merritt 22:00; 70. Monica Soto 22:38; 73. Vanessa Croke 22:50; 80. Tori Northcut 23:05; 84. Lora Esquivel 23:26.