Española Valley freshman Marissa Martinez was facing her final chance May 9 to qualify for the Class AAAA state track meet.
She had made it into the District 2AAAA finals for the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.96, almost matching her best time of the season — 12.94 seconds. A time of 12.80 seconds or less automatically qualifies a runner for the state meet, but there’s another way to earn that prized spot — by placing first or second in the district finals.
At the starting line, there were two runners from Los Alamos with faster times: Emily Weeks and Chase Ealey. Ealey, however, false-started in the lane right next to Martinez.
At the second start, Martinez took off. She couldn’t catch Weeks and Hilltopper Kyra Roybal was hot on her heels. But Martinez held on to second place. She hugged her teammates joyously when she realized that she had qualified.
“I don’t know what to say,” Martinez said. “I’ve been working so hard.”
Martinez qualified for state last season as a member of Española’s 400-meter relay team. She said her experience at state motivated her to try and qualify in the individual 100-meter this season.
“I really liked state,” she said. “That was my goal — to qualify in the 100.”
Martinez will also compete in the 400-meter relay again this season, thanks to a stirring anchor leg in the district meet by eighth-grader Lauren Quintana. Quintana overtook a runner from Capital at the finish line to earn the Lady Sundevils a second-place finish. The young relay team also includes freshman Alex Boyd and eighth-grader Adrianna Mondragon.
The Lady Sundevils finished fourth in the team standings with 37 points.
Three Boys Head to State
The Española boys team finished fourth as well, scoring 45 points. Senior Derek Vigil qualified for state and earned a District 2AAAA individual title when he won the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.38 seconds.
Vigil also took second in the 100-meter dash with a season-best time of 11:07 seconds. That time was fast enough to qualify Vigil for state even if he hadn’t come in second.
Senior Nate Medina, Vigil’s winter training partner, will join his teammate in Albuquerque. Medina took second in the shot put with a 41-foot, 9-inch heave. His season’s best is 45 feet, 3 inches and he hopes to surpass that at state.
“On that big stage, you don’t want to disappoint,” he said.
Freshman CJ Berryman will also compete at state. Berryman finished second in the 400-meter run at Los Alamos and wore a big smile after the race.
“I’m going to state,” he said.
The Class AAA-AAAAA state track meet will be held Friday and Saturday at the University of New Mexico track, in Albuquerque.