Throughout the year, and in previous years, it had been the Escalante High School girls track team that won meets.
“Now it’s the boys turn,” said Escalante coach Isaac Royston.
The Lobos boys team won first place at the April 29 District 5-2A meet in Peñasco, edging out the hosts by just three ranking points.
The Escalante girls finished third, with Questa taking the win. McCurdy finished fifth for both the boys and girls, and Mesa Vista was in sixth, while Peñasco was second on both sides.
But, Royston said, the bigger goal is to qualify as many athletes as possible for the state championship; a bigger priority than the team scores.
The top two placers in each event qualify for the Friday and Saturday state championship meet in Albuquerque, and athletes could also qualify throughout the year by meeting preset standards.
Casey Nevarez from McCurdy won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. His 11.25 time in the 100 is the fastest in the state this season in 2A, though does did not count as a seed time.
Nevarez said he was still recovering from a pulled quad from five weeks earlier.
“But I knew my teammates were relying on me,” he said. “So, I pushed myself through it. Fought through the pain.”
Escalante junior Nathaniel Martinez had a fantastic day, winning both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles races by over three seconds, and taking a second-place finish in the 100 meter dash behind Nevarez. He took third in the long jump, for which he had already qualified for state. And he was part of a winning 4×100-meter relay team, giving him five events in which to compete next week.
Martinez credited God with his success throughout the season.
“It’s not going to be given to you, you can only get it through your desire and heart,” Martinez said. “Only God could take me to this point, and the desire that he’s given me.”
Last year, Martinez finished third in the short hurdles event and fifth in the longer race; he will look to improve on both of those this year. He enters with the third-fastest time in the 110-meter and second in the 300.
Leroy Salazar from Escalante won both the shot put and discus throws — the shot put was just a 0.5-inch difference over Peñasco’s Elijah Lucero in second. And Luka Torrez tied for first in the high jump while winning the 400-meter dash. Reina Terrazas won the girls 100-meter and 400-meter runs, and she has the fastest time in the state at 100 meters.
Escalante also cleaned up in relay races, winning the boys 4×100, 4×200, 4×400 and 4×800, and the girls 4×100 and 4×400.
“Almost all of the same kids are in all the relays, and it’s building that continuity,” Royston said. “We just kind of make it repetitive, so everybody knows where they’re at.”
McCurdy senior Marcos Gasca, in between a busy week in baseball, won the long jump, with Escalante’s Ruben Martinez in second; Royston said Martinez had been doing the long jump for just a few weeks.
For Mesa Vista, Brandon Sandoval qualified for state with a second-place finish in the javelin, Jordan Cervantes made it with a 24.09 in the 200-meter in second place, and Amarissa Quintana finished second in the girls 200-meter run. And the boys sprint medley relay team of Cervantes, Sandoval, Jordan Gallegos and Kenny Gallegos won the event.
Dulce will also send 14 boys to state, including Isaiah Reval, who has the third-fastest qualifying time in the 1600 meters.
Gilly Valdez from Peñasco easily won the 800-meter, 1600-meter and 3200-meter races, seemingly without breaking a sweat. He is likely a heavy favorite in those events headed into state.