Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS - There the trophies stood, just waiting to be won.
They were the winners' spoils of Thursday's Wildcat Relays at Leon Williams Stadium and they were perched atop a table resting diagonally on the football field's 31-yard line. Pretty good field position if you're the Wildcat football team on a scoring drive. But well after 10 p.m. Thursday, with the once-ideal temperatures having fallen, it seemed like the trophies were there forever. If those trophies could talk, even they might've said, "C'mon already."
But there's that expression, "Good things come to those who wait," which was true for the Clovis track and field program and its fans, rewarded a bit after 10:30 with Wildcat boys and girls championships at Thursday's meet, the third consecutive meet titles for both teams this season and a Wildcat Relay repeat for the boys.
All in all a good night for Clovis, albeit a long and ultimately cold one.
"Some positive things today, got some wins, qualified (for states) in a few areas," Clovis boys coach Mark Sena said. "And, one of two kids was aiming to break the 800-meter (school) record and Jerrick Maldonado did that. He broke it by more than a second."
It was pretty much as Sena thought it would be three days earlier. After Monday afternoon's practice, Sena said the sophomore Maldonado and his senior teammate Jon Fuentes were equally likely to shatter Kelly Acy's 32-year old school mark in the 800, and boy was Sena spot on. Acy's 1987 time of 1:57.3 has stood, up until Thursday, frozen among the other school records in the display over the Rock Staubus Gymnasium restrooms. Now, Maldonado's 1:56.13 will replace Acy in that club, not an easy club to join. Hank Baskett is still up there for the boys 110-meter hurdles and high jump records, and he played in a Super Bowl 10 years ago.
So, elite company indeed for Maldonado.
"It feels nice," he said. "My coach came up to me and told me how long (the record) has been up there. ... I was excited."
And yet, Maldonado thinks Thursday's effort might be one for the you-ain't-seen-nothing-yet file.
"I've seen the potential I have," he said, "and it's still mid-season. So I still have a lot of time to get better. So by states, I hope to be up there with Yonas (Haile) of Cleveland."
As a team, Clovis' boys outdistanced second-place Carlsbad by almost 80 points.
"It's real good to win at home," Sena said. "We've been winning titles in other places, so I knew that people would be gunning for us here. And it's always nice to rise to the challenge; a lot of our guys did that today. And so I'm very proud of the way that we performed, and hopefully we can continue to improve throughout the year."
The Wildcats' championship-winning total Thursday was 145; the Cavemen finished at 65.5. Hope Christian was third with 47, followed closely by Portales with 42.5. Hobbs rounded out the top five with 36 points.
Clovis Christian tied Clayton for 12th with three points each. Clovis' B team was 14th with one point.
Clovis' girls notched a title-winning 101 points. Cleveland was next at 94 points, followed by Hope Christian (61), Carlsbad (43) and Rio Rancho (37.5) to fill out the top five.
Portales was 11th with 12 points, Clovis' B team 14th with one point.
Sena and Clovis girls coach Darrel Ray had been right about the teams they thought would give theirs the closest competition - Sena noted Carlsbad, Ray mentioned Cleveland, after Monday's practice. And those teams were the respective second-place finishers to Clovis.
The Lady Wildcats keep winning championships this spring, and added their home meet to the list Thursday. That third straight title could be a sign of a program on the upswing.
"Well, you hope so," Ray said. "But still, three of the regular mile relay girls had to pull out because of injuries and what not, and that kind of puts a damper on the whole thing because you'd like to put an exclamation point on. ... But yeah, overall, the meet went pretty well. Good competition, a lot of teams. It was very competitive all the way through. Hope Christian did a great job. Cleveland did a great job. I was glad our kids performed well. We were fortunate to keep our little streak going."
And the local winners are ...
The 100-meter dash and discus were especially strong events in the boys competition, as each featured local athletes taking every spot in the top three.
Clovis senior Montez Wright won the 100 with a time of 10.97, followed by Portales senior Julian Urioste in second (11.32) and Wildcat junior Brandon Mason in third (11.33).
Portales junior Phillip Blidi won the discus with a toss of 148 feet, 2 inches. Clovis junior Bryce Cabeldue was second (137-3.5) and Wildcat senior Daniel Mendoza third (135-7.75).
Portales junior Jalen Allen won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.75.
Clovis had a 1-2 punch in the 400, with Wright winning (50.94) and his junior teammate Ethan Culliver taking second (51.98).
While Maldonado was making history in the 800, Fuentes was placing second (1:58.86) in the event, and Clovis Christian sophomore Dawson Teune was taking fourth (2:10.00).
Clovis junior T.J. Gregg won the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:57.85.
Clovis' 400- (43.31) and 1,600-meter (3:28.59) boys relay teams each placed first. The 400 team consisted of Mason, sophomore Ernesto Acuna, senior Kade Jones and Wright. The 1,600 team included Acuna, Culliver, Maldonado and Wright.
Clovis junior Kris Byrd won the high jump with a number of 6 feet, 2 inches.
Portales senior Aiden Cabeldue took first in the pole vault with a mark of 13 feet, 9 inches.
Blidi won the shot put, flinging the orb 49 feet, 4 inches.
In the girls competition, Clovis sophomore Mikyla Harkley won three events - the 200- (26.84) and 400-meter (101.03) dashes, plus the triple jump (37 feet, 1 inch).
Lady Wildcats sophomore Kameron Kelley won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.54.
The Clovis 400- (49.70) and 800-meter (1:46.76) relay teams were each victorious. The 400 team included senior Tajvionna Johnson, sophomore Gracie Rollins, junior Sidney Stratton and senior Antanishwa Molett. The 000 team consisted of Stratton, Rollins, freshman Karis Barberee and Johnson.
Portales freshman Kylyie Paden won the high jump with a number of 5 feet, 2 inches.
And Rollins captured first in the pole vault, with a mark of 9 feet, 6 inches.
Qualifying club
Wright's winning mark in the 100-meter dash was a new qualifying time for Clovis, as was the 1,600-meter relay team's time.
Byrd took third in the 110-meter hurdles, and his time of 15.50 was also a new qualifier for the Wildcats.
Maldonado had already qualified in the 800, but improved his time with Thursday's record-breaking finish. Same goes for the winning 400-meter relay team, which improved its qualifying time.
Clovis sophomore Pacer Hill was third in the pole vault, and his mark of 13 feet, 9 inches improved his qualifying time.
The state 5A championship meet is scheduled for May 18 in Albuquerque.