For all of the track and field athletes from the Class 3A District 2 league who hadn’t qualified for the state championships, May 6, in Albuquerque, their last chance was in Dulce.
The 3A District 2 championship was held April 27, at Dulce High School — and the common goal of qualifying was evident.
“The only goal today is to qualify,” McCurdy’s Alyssa Edmonds said. “I haven’t done that yet, but I think the best chance will be in the 4×100.”
The Lady Bobcats ran a state qualifying time of 55.84 seconds, to get in as the final team out of 16 to qualify. Edmonds also qualified for the 200-meter dash, with a time of 28.24 seconds.
Other McCurdy athletes that punched their tickets to Albuquerque were Jeneva Serrano, 800-meter run; Jayme Bustos, 3200-meter run; Nathaniel Garcia, 110-meter high hurdles, 300-meter intermediate hurdles and javelin; Jayden Maestas, discus; and Azaira Arroyo, discus and shot put.
Arroyo posted 30 feet in the shot put for the first time in her career and it happened to be on her 18th birthday.
“I was so excited I had to call my parents and let them know,” she said. “It’s awesome. I’ve been trying forever (to reach 30 feet). It made my whole day.”
There was a different approach for McCurdy’s Ernesto Martinez, who had already qualified for the boys 100 and 200-meter dash, prior to the district championship meet.
He recorded qualifying times, April 21, at the Northern Rio Grande meet in Pecos.
“I think I have a great shot to do well at state,” Martinez said. “I just need to keep working on my starts this week. If I can get my starts down, then everything else comes together.”
Martinez’s strongest event is the 100, where he ran a personal best of 10.92 seconds, at the Northern Rio Grande . He will try to improve upon his fifth place finish in the 2017 state championship, where he ran an 11.68.
As for Dulce High School, the Hawks only state qualifier in the running events was senior Vinson Veneno, who won the boys 1600-meter run, with a time of 5 minutes, 10.54 seconds.
“It’s a real great honor because I know all my practice and hard work paid off,” he said. “I’ll have the chance to go up against the best in the state, so I just have to keep up my training this next week.”
Other Dulce athletes to qualify were Julisa Christie, in the girls javelin and Marvin Reval, in the boys shot put and discus.
There were two school record-breaking performances by Santa Fe Prep athletes on the day.
Sophomore Hayden Colfax broke the school record in the girls 100-meter high hurdles, with a hand-held time of 15.70 seconds. She broke Anne Jackson’s 1981 record of 15.74 seconds.
Colfax had already qualified for the 100-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, April 4, in the Golden Spike Classic at Santa Fe High School — and will be one of the favorites in both events at the state championship.
She has posted the second-best qualifying time this season in each event.
“Today, I just wanted to break my PR (personal record) and I was able to do that,” Colfax said. “I’m feeling really good right now going into state and couldn’t be more excited.”
The Blue Griffins’ Sam Sparks rewrote Santa Fe Prep’s triple jump record by jumping 42 feet, 7 inches. Ian Andersson held the old record, at 41-10.
All the athletes who qualified for state will have one week to prepare for the meet, which runs May 4-5, at the University of New Mexico Soccer Track Complex in Albuquerque.