When the long-delayed Pojoaque Invitational finally took place April 22, coach Bob Koski had to keep some of his best athletes in the stable. They needed to save their strength for a match-up against key district rivals April 24 in Las Vegas.
“I don’t like to run my horses hard every week,“ Koski said. “At Robertson, you’ll see their best against our best.”
The under-gunned Elkettes managed to score 17 points at Pojoaque, finishing eighth out of 18 teams. West Las Vegas and Monte del Sol tied for first place in the girls team standings, with 59 points each. Most of Pojoaque’s points came courtesy of a star filly who did compete, junior Dionna Montoya.
Montoya is the defending state champion in the 800-meter run and long jump, and she holds her school’s record in the 400-meter run. At the Pojoaque Invitational she won the Chris Peterson Memorial 800-meter run, took second in the long jump and fourth in the 400-meter run, scoring 15 of the Elkettes’ 17 points.
Montoya’s long jump of 15 feet, 7 inches was of state-qualifying length. She has already qualified in the 400 with a time of 1:02.11 March 21 at Belen.
Montoya is a multi-sport athlete who has been playing Amateur Athletic Union basketball and has missed several track meets. Koski said he was glad she could get the work in at Pojoaque.
“This is really her first full meet of the season,” Koski said. “We want to build a competitive base for her.”
Koski finally let his key runners loose at the Meadow City Invitational April 24.
The Elkettes responded, scoring 75 points and finishing second to meet host and District 2AAA powerhouse Robertson. The Elkettes were leading in the team standings 75-71 until the final event, the 1600-meter relay. Pojoaque didn’t field a relay team and Robertson won the race, earning 10 points and securing the team title.
It was still a great day for Pojoaque, which took just eight girls to Robertson and returned with eight state-qualifying performances: in the 800-meter and 400-meter runs, 1600-medley relay, 200-meter dash, long jump and 400-meter and 800-meter relays.
At the Pojoaque Invite, Montoya wasn’t the only one glad to get some competitive time in. The Dulce and Escalante teams have also had several meets postponed or cancelled because of the snowstorms and freezing temperatures of the last few weeks.
“This is what we need to hone the kids,” Dulce coach Ron Graham said at the Pojoaque meet. “You can’t practice what we’re doing here today.”
The Hawks scored 11 points and tied for ninth place in the boys team competition. St. Michaels finished first with 67 points.
Graham picked up some unexpected points in the distance races, with Graham Thomas taking fifth in the 1600-meter run and sixth in the 800-meter run. Dulce finished fourth in the 1600-meter relay and Jaymes Panzy was fourth in the 400-meter run.
“This year I have distance runners, which I usually don’t have,” Graham said.
The Escalante Lobos, who have had three track meets cancelled this season, scored seven points to finish in a 13th place tie with Española Valley. All of Escalante’s points came courtesy of the strong right arm of junior Justin Atencio, who won the javelin with a toss of 140 feet, 7.5 inches.
Española picked up points in the shot put and discus, where senior Nate Medina was fourth and sixth, respectively.
McCurdy School scored three points thanks to a fourth-place finish by Louie Martinez in the long jump.
Dulce’s Keytiil Vicenti, who has state-qualifying marks in the high jump and javelin, took third in the high jump. Kaitlyn Vigil was fourth in the long jump and discus and took fifth in the triple jump for the Lady Hawks, who scored a total of 14 points and finished 10th.