Pole vaulter breaks school mark in Wildcat Relays

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As a sophomore, Burgin Foster has come a long way in a year.

link Staff photo: Tony Bullocks

Clovis High junior Monay Phillips tosses the javelin on Friday afternoon during Friday’s Wildcat Relays track meet at Leon Williams Stadium. Phillips did not place in the event, but she did win discus competition to help the Lady Wildcats finish fifth in the meet.

Last spring, Foster’s best effort in pole vault was a respectable 11 feet, 9 inches, but he’s worked hard at it in the meantime and it paid off in Friday’s Wildcat Relays track meet at Leon Williams Stadium.

Foster was one of three vaulters to clear 13-9, nine inches better than his effort in the Amarillo Relays earlier this month. It also broke a 16-year-old school record by two inches, and he won the event on a tiebreaker over two Coltons — Dean, of Alamogordo, and Rice, of Lovington.

The Wildcats finished third in the meet with 56 points, trailing Rio Rancho Cleveland (76) and Alamo (75). The Storm also won the girls’ side, though in much more comfortable fashion, with 116 points to 50 1/2 for runnerup Alamo.

The CHS girls finished fifth with 35 points. The Lady Wildcats won two events.

Other wins for the Cats were by senior Roland Chavez in discus (a personal-best 164 feet, 1 inch) and junior Leroy Wilson in the 300 hurdles (40.88 seconds).

“It was nice to see Burgin break the school record,” CHS boys coach Darren Kelley said. “Roland did a great job. Every week he has improved his throws, which is what you want to see.

“This group has a chance to get a trophy at the state meet (top-three finish) if we can get some breaks.”

Foster, who is about to change poles for the second time this spring, thinks he’s a long way from being done.

“In practice I’ve been clearing 14 feet, but I got a new pole two weeks ago and it’s definitely helped me a lot,” he said. “I just got a new pole today. Hopefully, I can get 15 feet.”

A crosswind made vaulting difficult on Friday, but Burgin said he tried to use the breeze to his advantage as much as possible.

“I don’t know how I got 13-9,” he said. “The wind was a (challenging) factor, but I tried to let it help me.”

Chavez, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A in discus, beat top-ranked Riley Finnegan of Alamo, who threw 161-8. He also came in second in shot put with a personal best 50-3 1/2, behind top-ranked Demetry Rodriguez of Cleveland (51-5).

“In discus, it didn’t do too much,” Chavez said of the affects of the wind. “As long as I kept (the throw) flat, I was OK.”

A serious knee injury suffered early in the football season has all but healed for the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Chavez, who has signed to play tight end at Northern Arizona next year. He missed most of the basketball season as well.

“When I was hurt, it was hard to watch my team because I couldn’t do anything to help them,” he said.

He was cleared to play basketball with about six games left in the season, but decided to wait for track.

For the Lady Cats, junior Monay Phillips took first place in discus for the Lady Cats, throwing 113-8, while junior Brittany Reed was third at 107-5.

“She’s throwing very consistently,” assistant coach Billie Merritt said of Phillips. “Her and Brittany are both scoring points for us at every meet.”

On the track, sophomore Mimi Coleman ran 13.16 seconds in the 100 to edge Hobbs’ Amaya Lewis (13.23) for first place.

“The kids have done a great job,” Merritt said. “It’s been a crazy week with testing, and we haven’t been all together for practice.”

CHS girls coach Dawn Coleman was in attendance for part of the meet. She gave birth to her first child, a boy, on April 2.

Melrose and Texico went 3-4 in girls javelin with Taylor Bostwick (118-6) and Jaden Stephens (116-9).

Several CHS athletes are slated to compete on Monday in the Sepulveda Invite in Albuquerque. The next full meet on the schedule will be a qualifier meet at Alamogordo on Friday.