Nate Martinez was never the favorite in the 110-meter hurdles.
The best time entering the state championship was from Malik Barrens of Pecos, who was 0.35 seconds faster than the Escalante senior.
The year before, Santa Rosa’s Andres Madrid beat out Martinez for second place (with a Hagerman senior winning the title).
In the qualifying rounds, he won his heat by over half a second, but was .01 seconds behind Barrens. Barrens would also win the 300-meter hurdles race later the day.
Though Martinez beat Barrens earlier in the season at the Northern Rio Grande championship, he would likely need a personal best in his final race to take gold.
And that was exactly what he did, blazing down the track in 15.79 seconds, nearly a quarter of a second faster than his previous best. He beat out both Madrid and Barrens with a second-half surge, winning Escalante’s first state title since 2019.
“He had been running well all year, so it wasn’t that surprising, in a sense,” Escalante coach Isaac Royston said. “He was well prepared, he did everything he needed to do to get himself in that position.”
Martinez, Dulce’s James Johnson and Peñasco’s Rochelle Lopez were among the state champions from northern New Mexico at the 2A state championships in Albuquerque on May 5-6.
Escalante finished 14th in boys scores and 16th in girls scores.
Martinez added a fourth-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles at 42.98 seconds, down a bit from his performance a year ago. He just missed qualifying for the finals in the 100 meter dash, and he could not quite connect on the long jump, finishing 21st while his personal-best from the week before would have placed in the top three.
Also from Escalante, Ashley Gilmore won a medal, placing fourth in the girls 300-meter hurdles, and was part of a team along with Hannah Lopez, Emma Maestas and Felice Baca that placed fourth in the girls 4×100-meter relay. A similar team, with Brycelyn Martinez instead of Maestas, placed fifth in the 4×400.
“That’s been our race for the girls for the past four or five years,” Royston said of the 4×400 relay.
Dulce had an overall strong boys performance, finishing seventh in team standings. In the javelin throw, Johnson entered the day with the second-biggest throw in the state at 143 feet. But his first five throws were short of that mark, and he was in fifth place. But his sixth and final attempt sailed 156 feet, 4 inches, winning the event by a full 10 feet, and becoming Dulce’s first state champion in 11 years.
Johnson also finished fourth in the boys 400 meter finals.
Dulce’s 4×800 boys relay team placed second, and they added another silver medal in the boys sprint medley relay, with Johnson winning the 400-meter leg.
Isaiah Reval placed fourth in the 1600 meters, and Jaren Johnson was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles and fifth in the triple jump.
Peñasco freshman Rochelle Lopez was one of the top performers, winning a state title in both the 1600-meter and 3200-meter races. Her teammate Charnelle Gonzales finished second behind her in the 1600. Lopez was the fourth-highest individual scorer of the weekend.
Peñasco finished sixth for the girls team scores, and 19th for the boys. Their girls 4×800 team finished in second place in the race. They also finished fourth in the boys 4×800 meter race.
McCurdy’s girls were 16th in team scores. Eighth-grader Marisol Serna stayed close behind Peñasco’s Lopez throughout the 3200-meter race, and finished with a silver medal, 1.2 seconds behind. Their girls 4×800 meter relay team — Allison Cantrell, Kaylee Martinez, Avery Knight and Aubrey Cordova — placed fourth, which was McCurdy’s only other medal.
Mesa Vista finished 12th for boys team scores and 23rd for girls. The Trojans were led by eighth-grader Ezequiel Nevarez, who placed third in the 1600 meters and fourth in the 3200. And their boys 4×200 meter relay and sprint medley relay both finished sixth in the finals.
Amarissa Quintana finished fifth in the girls 200 meters at 27.52 seconds. And Jordan Cervantes was fifth in the boys 200 meters at 23.52 seconds.
Coronado’s lone 1A state qualifier, junior Matthew Rieck, finished ninth in the 200 meters at 24.70 seconds.