The Mesa Vista track team has been busy this past week, clocking state-qualifying times and shattering school records.
Senior Adrian Coronado set a school record and cleared a state-qualifying height in the pole vault April 16 at Pecos, while sophomore Julia Martinez and freshman Haliey Lucero ran state-qualifying and school-record times April 18 at the Fox and Vixen relays in Fort Sumner.
Coronado started it all at the Pecos Invitational. Taking advantage of his first chance to compete in his specialty, Coronado soared over the bar at 12 feet to set a new school record and exceed the state-qualifying height of 11 feet.
Coronado had some pressure that may have helped push him to his record heights. He initially cleared 10 feet, then ran over to compete in the long jump and high jump. But he was informed that a vaulter from St. Michaels, Dominic Valdez, had cleared 11 feet.
Coronado went back and cleared 11 feet. Both vaulters made vaults at 11 feet, 6 inches on their second attempts. Coronado cleared 12 feet right away but Valdez couldn’t make it in three attempts, giving Coronado the victory.
“He’s really dedicated himself to the weights and that’s helped him,” Mesa Vista coach Ben Sandoval said. “You need that strength to really bend that pole.”
The Trojans were scheduled to compete at the Northern Rio Grande meet April 18 at Peñasco, but it was cancelled due to weather. The adaptable Sandoval saw an opportunity to let his distance runners run at a lower elevation. They traveled to a meet in Fort Sumner, which lies at 4,000 feet.
“Heck yeah,” Sandoval said of the opportunity. “I needed to help my distance runners out.”
The Northern Rio Grande meet would have been run at 7,000 feet, while the Trojans train in Ojo Caliente at 6,000 feet.
The drop in elevation proved advantageous for Martinez, who won the 800-meter run with a state-qualifying time of 2:32.48.
“Julia just tore it up,” Sandoval said. “She kept the other runners to her outside and just out-kicked them.”
Martinez finished third in the 400-meter run, but her time of 1:02.84 set a new Mesa Vista record and was more than fast enough to qualify her for state.
Lucero already owned the school record in the 3200-meter, having run a 12:42.45 at Pecos. Running in the lowlands of Fort Sumner, Lucero slashed nearly 20 seconds off her time, clocking in at 12:23.42 and finishing third.
In the 1600-meter run at Fort Sumner, Lucero finished second with a time of 5:51.57 to set another school record.
Ironically, her time was not a state-qualifying mark. Had Lucero been running in Class AAA, she would have easily beat the 5:54 state standard. But the qualifying time for smaller Class AA schools is a faster 5:47.
Sandoval said he’s pleased that Lucero keeps improving. In the 3200, she has turned in four state-qualifying times since the start of the season. Each time, she has lowered her personal best.
“She’s starting to use some strategy and her times keep getting lower,” Sandoval said. “She’ll be ready for state.”
The Trojans will continue their busy track schedule as they make up some cancelled meets this week. Mesa Vista will compete at Pojoaque Wednesday (4/22) in a meet that was postponed from April 11. The Northern Rio Grande meet will be held Saturday at Peñasco.