Pojoaque girls track and field coach Bob Koski got what he wanted April 10 at the Capital City Invitational in Santa Fe.
“We’re going to try to get the (1600-meter relay) medley qualified,” he said before the meet. “We’re going to stack it.”
Stacking the medley meant putting his best 800-meter runner, senior Dionna Montoya, in to run the 800-meter anchor leg of the medley. Sprinters Amanda Babicke and Marissa Martinez would each run a 200-meter leg, while Kimberly Babicke would run the 400-meter leg before Montoya was handed the baton.
The strategy worked to perfection. When Montoya crossed the finish line, she had time to look back at the other runners trailing behind her. Pojoaque’s time of 4:34.34 not only easily beat the state-qualifying time of 4:45, but surprised even Koski.
“I was hoping for a 4:35 and they ran a 4:34,” he said. “We got what we wanted.”
Montoya, who has already run an individual state-qualifying time in the 800-meter run, had earlier in the meet anchored the Elkettes to a second-place finish and a state-qualifying time of 1:52.4 in the 800-meter relay. She placed third in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 8 inches and ran a state-qualifying time of 1:02.13 in the 400-meter run, finishing third. Her efforts helped Pojoaque take second place in the team standings with 60 points at the meet. Los Alamos took first among the 11 teams at the meet with 209 points
“These girls are very coachable,” Koski said. “I tell them to correct one thing and they do it.”
The Elkettes are the defending Class AAA state track and field champions, and Montoya is the defending 800-meter state champion.
“How you practice is how you perform,” she said. “We’re still a work in progress. Your best time could be at state.”
Helping balance out the speed of the Elkettes sprinters was Elkette distance runner Sophia Torres. She turned in a state-qualifying tine of 2:33.38 in the 800-meter run finishing second and won the 1600-meter run in 5:43, another state-qualifying time.
Elkette Kimberly Babicke finished third in the 100-meter run with a state-qualifying time of 12.65 and took second in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 9.5 inches The Elkettes have already turned in state-qualifying performances in 10 events, including all four relays.
The Pojoaque boys team tied for sixth-place with Taos in the boys competition with 17 points.
Senior James Viarreal and sophomore Sam Roybal accounted for 15 of Pojaque’s points. Viarreal won the boys 800-meter run with a time of 2:11.81, and Roybal finished second. In the 3200-meter run, Viarreal was fifth and Roybal sixth.
Española Valley
The Española Valley Sundevils boys track and field team took fourth place overall with 24 points. Sophomore C. J. Berryman was the top performer for the Sundevils, taking second in the 200-meter run and anchoring the Sundevils 400-meter and 800-meter relays to a second-place and a fifth-place finish, respectively. Junior Rudy Salazar ran a leg in both relays and also took fourth in the 800-meter run.
The Lady Sundevils scored two points and finished ninth overall.
They finished sixth in both the 400-meter and 1600-meter relays.