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Maldonado just misses bid for sweep

ALBUQUERQUE - Clovis High senior Jerrick Maldonado came painfully close - literally and figuratively - to pulling off a rare triple on Saturday.

Despite tweaking a muscle in his right leg during the week, Maldonado nearly swept the three boys distance races in Saturday's Class 5A meet at the University of New Mexico track facility.

After winning the 3,200 and the 800 earlier in the day, Maldonado ran a season-best 4 minutes, 31.94 seconds to edge Rio Rancho Cleveland senior Chris Humetewa (4:31.95) for second place in the 1,600, finishing behind junior Dawson Gunn of Rio Rancho (4:30.62).

Maldonado's 19 points - plus seven from a win in pole vault by senior Pacer Hill - lifted the Wildcats to a fifth-place team finish with 29 points. Cleveland scored 132 points and ran away with the meet, with La Cueva (71 1/2), Rio Rancho (68) and Onate (35) also ahead of the Cats.

Earlier, Maldonado won the 3,200 in 9:47.51 - Gunn was second at 9:48.41 - and took the 800 in 1:55.14. Gunn did not compete in the 800.

"He was very close (to a sweep)," Cats coach Mark Sena said of Maldonado, who will run cross country and track at NCAA Division II Adams State next year. "He was just out of gas. He gave it all he had, but the other kid (Gunn) was good."

On the girls' side, the Lady Wildcats completed a Clovis sweep of pole vault and notched a somewhat surprising 1-2 finish in the event with senior Camryn Barros (11 feet, 3 inches) and sophomore Madison Parkin (10-0). Parkin eclipsed her previous best three times in the event as the Lady Cats earned an 11th-place team finish with 15 points.

"That started the day off pretty well," Lady Cats coach Darrel Ray said. "We pretty much knew going in that Camryn was going to win. I thought Madi might go for fourth place, possibly third if she had a good day, but I didn't expect her to have those PRs (personal records)."

Alamogordo won the girls' team title with 79 1/2 points, while La Cueva (53) edged Sandia by two points for second.

Sena said he sensed Maldonado was hurting, but never directly let on.

"It's the first time in a while I saw him grimacing," Sena said. "I had a feeling he wasn't telling me something."

Coming in, Maldonado was the favorite in the 3,200 and 800 and ranked second to Gunn in the 1,600. He tried to save energy and nurse his injury best he could.

"It would have been nice to win all three," he said. "But I felt like I left it all out there, and I'm really proud of that."

Maldonado used a late kick to pull away from Gunn in the 3,200. His goal in the 800 was to break the state meet record of 1:53.05.

"I knew the record was probably out of the question (with the injury), but I just wanted to win," he said.

He found himself kicking late in the 1,600 to try to make up ground, and overtook Humetewa at the wire.

"I got him with a head-lean," Maldonado said.

Hill, the favorite coming into boys pole vault competition, lived up to the billing and won by a foot over La Cueva's Jackson Kinghorn and Onate's Jonathan Torres, who finished second and third at 13-6.

After clinching first place, Hill took three shots at 15 feet.

"He took care of business," Sena said of Hill's win. "Fifteen feet has been the mark he's been trying to get all season. He had a really good attempt, but just clipped (the bar) with his elbow, and that was all she wrote."

Hill and Barros are both slated to take their talents to Angelo State in the fall to compete on the Division II college level.

Other points for the boys came on a fifth-place showing for the 1,600 medley relay team of sophomore Bryson Goldsmith, junior Andrew Hall, sophomore Robert Nora and junior Aiden Johnson in 3:47.44, and a sixth by Nora in triple jump at 42-3.

All told, Nora was in four events on Saturday.

"He didn't jump too bad," Sena said. "Considering it was his first time at state, I thought he handled it pretty well. He had a full day."

Other points for the Lady Cats came on a fifth in the 200 from senior Kiara Cox (26.28) and a sixth by senior Skyler Jordan in shot put (33-2 3/4).

Ray said some events which did not score for the Lady Cats also established season bests, and he was pleased to see the team's three seniors - Barros, Cox and Jordan - each come home with a medal.