Lady Cats first, Cats third in district meet

CARLSBAD – Clovis High’s girls put five runners in the top 10 on Friday and captured District 4-5A competition at Carlsbad, while the CHS boys finished third.

Both Clovis squads will run in Class 5A state competition on Saturday, hosted by Albuquerque High. The 5A boys race is set for 10:50 a.m., with the girls to follow at 11:35 a.m.

“We’re going to keep things going,” CHS cross country coach Liz Ledezma said. “Hopefully, we can place in the top six (in both divisions).”

The Lady Wildcats, with all nine runners finishing in the top 20, posted a team score of 26 points to 31 for Hobbs and 80 for the host Cavegirls. Roswell High did not field a full squad.

On the boys’ side, Carlsbad collected 30 team points, followed by Hobbs 46, the Wildcats 71 and Roswell High 84.

Junior Gabrielle Foggie led the Lady Cats, finishing second in 21 minutes, 27.10 seconds to trail only Bhret Clay of Hobbs, who ran a time of 20:48.

CHS eighth-grader Christina Waltrip was just two-10ths of a second behind Foggie, finishing third in 21:27.30, while freshman Brooke Newcomer came in fifth at 21:22, freshman Rosalia Morales was sixth in 21:33 and sophomore Jarelly Navarrete placed 10th in 22:37.

Rounding out the girls’ performances were senior Olumachi Anaele, 13th in 23:28; sophomore Joselyn Foggie, 16th in 24:03; junior Kira Tree, 18th in 24:32, and eighth-grader Jalena Maldonado, 20th in 25:03.

Junior Sammy Fuentes (17:57) and sophomore Santiago Verdugo (18:18) were fifth and ninth, respectively, for the Cats in the boys division. Also, junior Victor Sanchez was 15th in 18:40, eighth-grader Erik Cordum was 19th in 19:26, junior Rudy Ledezma was 20th in 19:35, eighth-grader Adrian Surita was 22nd in 19:46, eighth-grader Marcus Lippman was 23rd in 19:55, freshman Connor McQuiggan was 26th in 20:34 and eighth-grader Ryder Bonney was 27th in 21:-01.

The boys’ individual winner was Erik Carrasco of Carlsbad in 16:52.