Lady Cats finish second in Hereford meet

HEREFORD — The Clovis High Lady Wildcats claimed five first-place performances and finished second to host Hereford in the two-day Hereford Invitational track meet.

The Lady Whitefaces took the team title with 114 points to 104 for Clovis. Amarillo Palo Duro was third in the 11-school competition with 90 points.

Clovis’ boys, meantime, came in fifth out of nine teams, scoring 67 points. Hereford also won that division with 172 points.

Senior Kim Perkins took the 100 and 300 hurdles races for the girls in times of 15.57 and a season-best 47.29, respectively. She also anchored the Lady Cats to victory in the 1,600 relay.

Other wins for the Lady Cats, both on Saturday, were by Brittany Blackmon in high jump, with a state-qualifying mark of 5-2, and by Lorena Garza in discus at 115-5.

The Lady Cats competed a bit shorthanded during the meet due to illness and injury, but coach Darrel Ray said the effort was good.

“Considering it’s the front end of spring break and we’re coming off about as bad a week as we could have had, the kids performed real well,” Ray said. “We had several kids who didn’t score that were just off of state qualifying (performances).”

Sophomore Manuel Robles, who had a state-qualifying effort of 21 feet, 8 inches in placing second in long jump on Friday, posted his second qualifying mark on Saturday by winning triple jump at 43-7 1/2. Robles is the defending 5A state champion in the event.

CHS boys coach Darren Kelley said his team competed well. He added that the Cats have a couple of tough meets coming up the next couple of weekends in the Amarillo Relays and the Plainview Invitational.

“These guys competed; they worked their butts off,” Kelley said. “We’re going to get better. We’ve just got to survive these next couple of weeks.”

On the track on Saturday, junior Brian Mead placed second in the 110 hurdles and fourth, just behind teammate Diondre Hunter, in the 300 hurdles. Also, both ran on the Cats’ second-place 800 relay team.