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Cross country: Clovis boys take Capital City meet

SANTA FE— When the Clovis High boys cross country team gets healthy — with the date on that getting repeatedly pushed back — it’s going to be a force in any meet it attends.

Of course, the Wildcat present isn’t all that bad either, as evidenced by a comfortable win Saturday in the Capital City Invite. Jerrick Maldonado and T.J. Gregg finished 1-2 for the first time this season, as Clovis took the team trophy with just 50 points to 76 for Pojoaque and 93 for Taos.

The Wildcats had four of the top 12 finishers, and their other three racers finished in the top 35.

“This is a tough course, higher elevation, like what we’ll see in Rio Rancho (at the state championships),” Clovis coach Mark Bussen said. “Jerrick and T.J. both ran really well. Third place was 30 seconds back of T.J. They both ran really smart. I was happy with the way they ran this early in the season.”

It was hard to be disappointed with any boys result, as Bussen said all of the varsity members and junior varsity runners scored personal bests and did it on a course with challenges.

“This is up and down with some rocks,” Bussen said. “You have to be careful going downhill.”

Maldonado set the pace at 16:10, and was followed by Gregg at 16:36. Other finishers for Clovis were Kyle Richardson (ninth, 17:50), Kannon Brooks (12th, 17:59), Nehemiah Gonzales (26th, 18:49), Alejandro Chavarria (27th, 18:51) and Sage Spade (33rd, 19:22).

The team did get some bad news this week, however, as it was discovered Colton Wolf had a stress fracture and not a muscle injury as immediately thought. Bussen said Wolf will likely be out until the Oct. 24 pre-district meet in Carlsbad.

“Once we get him back,” Bussen said, “it’s going to be a pretty big difference.”

The girls had injury issues of their own, but still managed a fourth-place finish. Pojoaque cruised to the victory with 56 points, followed by a bunched field of Santa Fe (84), Santa Fe Prep (85) and Clovis (86).

Clovis did have three of the top 15 runners, with Annalysse Hamlett finishing second at 20:40. Shylee Tree was 11th at 22:29, and Ali Tree 15th at 22:34.

Other Clovis finishers were Odalys Olivas (28th, 24:18), Brittney Albin (33rd, 26:49) and Eva Munoz (34th, 27:10).

Clovis was without normal No. 5 runner Tayden Curtis, who is recovering from a cheerleading injury.

Clovis races early this week, with the Hobbs Invitational set for 3 p.m. Thursday.

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