Lady Rams earn trophy on final race

ALBUQUERQUE – Portales High's girls were just trying to do the best they could in Friday and Saturday's Class 4A state track meet at the University of New Mexico track facility. It was hard to imagine they'd done enough to finish in the top three and win a team trophy.

There they were, though, at the end of the day. The Lady Rams' 27 points was good enough to take third.

PHS finished third in the 1,600 relay finale, with the team of juniors Audrey Paden, Abby Ontiveros and Alondra Acosta and sophomore Kadynce Reeves posting a time of 4 minutes, 15.25. Those six points allowed the Lady Rams to move up from sixth place and finish ahead of Silver (26), Belen (23) and Artesia (22), none of whom scored in the event.

"We had to get third (in the relay); if we don't, we don't get the third-place trophy," PHS coach Quintin Wilson said. "They were so ecstatic when they found out, it was crazy."

The Lady Rams got some help in the 1,600 relay when Belen was disqualified for a false start.

No one was going to catch Los Alamos, which claimed its third 4A girls title in a row – all by more than 100 points. The Lady Hilltoppers scored in every event except the three throws, with multiple placers in most.

They notched 15 event wins, including everything on the track except the 800 – and they had a pair of placers in that event.

They finished with 176 ½ points to 76 for runnerup Albuquerque Academy.

"They're so good," Wilson said of the Lady Hilltoppers. "They had five girls in the finals of the 200. How do you compete with that?"

Los Alamos made it a sweep for the third year in a row, taking the boys' team crown with a more modest 91 points. Academy was second on that side as well with 73.

Sophomore Manny Chavez posted Portales' lone win of the weekend, capturing boys javelin competition by nearly 27 feet with a throw of 177 feet, 2 inches. The Rams were ninth on the boys' side with 20 points.

"We competed to the best of our ability," Wilson said. "Some of (the Rams and Lady Rams) performed about as well as they have all year."

The Lady Rams collected five points on Friday when junior Olivia Low finished fifth in discus (103-11). Other points on Saturday came with third-place finishes in the 400 relay (50.91 second) and 800 relay (1:48.72), both with Acosta, Ontiveros, Paden and junior Savana Heflin; fifth place by junior Emma Hurren in the 800 (2:30.30), and sixths by senior Esperanza Cruz in javelin (106-7) and the 1,600 medley relay team of Acosta, Ontiveros, freshman Skyler Massey and Hurren (4:35.91).

"It just goes to show you that every point counts," Wilson said.

The boys had a pair of fourth-place tallies on Friday with senior Michael Riess in the 800 (4:29.97) and sophomore Tommy Lopez in pole vault (12-0). In addition to Chavez on Saturday, Riess added a second-place finish in the 800 (1:59.31, trailing Los Alamos' Grafton Urbatsch, who ran 1:58.80), while the 1,600 medley relay team of sophomores Jase Hightower and Xavier Tarpeh, Lopez and Riess came in fifth (3:43.66).

Los Alamos (six) and Academy (five) combined to win 11 of the 20 4A boys events.