Running just fine

ALBUQUERQUE - There's gold in these here hills. And every elite track and field athlete in New Mexico descends on Albuquerque amid the Sandia Mountains once a year to find it.

Gold in this case is a somewhat metaphoric color, representing the glory sought by every sprinter, every distance runner, every hurdler and jumper, every field athlete that hurls a piece of metal of varying size into the air at the state track and field meet held each May at the University of New Mexico Softball and Track & Field Complex.

Actually, the hue they're in search of is blue - as in the blue trophy awarded for first place in states.

Every track and field star who qualifies to be here this time of year comes in search of that elusive blue hardware, comes in the hopes of stepping to the top spot on the podium, to have the term 'state champion' forever attached to his or her name.

It's not easy. That's why, though the second and final day of state competition serves as the official seal, the stamp of success, the first day is oh so important. That first day sets the tone for track and field season's final weekend. The beginning of the end.

So, Friday's opening day of competition at UNM was pretty big.

Through noon Saturday:

• The Clovis boys had 24 points and trailed only La Cueva (30) in the team standings

• The Clovis girls were in ninth place at seven points but only seven points behind first-place Alamogordo.

• The Portales boys were fifth with 10 points in a meet dominated by Albuqerque Academy (40 points, with Artesia second at 16).

• The Portales girls were 12th with three points from Emily Christensen's fourth-place finish in pole vault (9-0). Albuquerque Academy led Los Alamos 21-17 for first place.

"It puts them in position to score (Saturday)," Clovis boys coach Mark Sena said Friday night. "We have a little more confidence now with what we did (Friday). A lot of the kids, it's their first state track meet. Now it's not so daunting, so they should be more relaxed and ready."

Clovis senior Montez Wright had a solid Friday, earning the distinction of top qualifier in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Wright placed second in the long jump with a mark of 23-0.75, a personal best, topped only by Carlsbad's Austin Atencio, who nudged him by an inch while setting a new state record.

The Wildcats' medley relay team was a top qualifier and their 4x400-meter relay team also qualified.

"All those little things add up to a real important thing," Sena said. "In a track meet like this, the points are spread out among the teams. Every little bit counts."

Portales Senior Aiden Cabeldue went out of the state meet the same way he entered, as the reigning 4A pole vault champion. Cabeldue, who followed his father Brian and his sister Hannah in the event, jumped 14 feet and won a jump off against Artesia Kale Mauritsen.

Cabeldue won the event last year at 13 feet, and won a jump off with Silver's Matt Kennedy.

The Rams also scored Friday points with Phillip Blidi's fourth-place finish in discus at 143-3.

Clovis' Pacer Hill was second in Friday's pole vault, teammate Bryce Cabeldue fourth in the discus. Jerrick Maldonado, a school record-breaker at last month's Wildcat Relays, finished third in the 3,200-meter run, teammate Jon Fuentes fourth.

"Pacer not winning the pole vault was not expected," Sena said. "Jon not winning the two-mile (3,200) was not expected. So we had some things not go our way (Friday), but that's track, so you've got to fight those little setbacks, you've got to find ways to make up for them."

Clovis' girls came into the weekend expecting to make a run at third place and the green trophy that goes with it. And Gracie Rollins did pole vault her way to a new personal best of 10 feet, 6 inches on Friday, placing second only to Farmington's Kiara Quezada (12 feet). She had reached the 10-foot mark for the first time earlier this season.

And yet, there was a little disappointment for the Lady Wildcats.

"We had some highlights but we also had some lowlights," Clovis girls coach Darrel Ray said Friday night.

Earlier in the week, Ray said he hoped his girls would "nickel and dime" their way to some points that would make the difference between a green trophy and no trophy.

"In a couple of situations we did just that," Ray said, "but in a couple of situations we regressed."

Ray noted the long jump and discus as areas where he thought the Lady 'Cats would fare better.

"We might sink a little bit further than we had hoped to," he said.

Ray, though, was pleased overall with what he saw Friday. "Our relays did a good job," he said. "We didn't do badly. ... It's just me measuring my expectations to what we did, but the reality is, we did a pretty good job."