Mesa Vista Track
While Mesa Vista had some struggles in some events, the Trojans did well in distance races at the May 10-11 state 2A track and field meet.
Freshman Ezequiel Nevarez placed second in the boys 3200 meters, fourth in the 1600 meter run, and he placed third in the 800 meters. Teammate Kenneth Gallegos was right behind him, 0.17 seconds back in fourth place in the 800.
Freshman Andres Valdez, who had the third-best qualifying jump before the state meet, fouled on all three of his long jumps.
For Mesa Vista’s girls qualifiers, Camryn Johnson placed eighth in the shot put and their 4×400 relay team placed 11th.
Additionally, Coronado had six athletes qualify total, but they did not come to the meet as they were at the Business Professionals of America competition in Chicago.
Peñasco Track
Perhaps the most exciting race of the weekend came right at the start. Peñasco had the best qualifying time in the boys 4×800-meter relay. And they had an early lead over the field for most of the race.
But on the final lap, Jude Martinez’s leg seemed to tighten up, and Hagerman was quickly gaining ground. Martinez used every last bit of energy, and dove/stumbled over the finish line, winning the race by less than one second.
Martinez also placed fourth in the 3200 meters.
Jeremiah Martinez placed fifth in the 1600 meters
On the girls side, Rochelle Lopez placed second in the 1600, and fourth in the 3200. Charnelle Gonzales was sixth in the 800.
Their 4×800-meter relay team placed fourth.
Large-School District Track
Athletes from Española Valley and Pojoaque Valley qualified for the state 4A meet, which will be on Friday and Saturday, at the district 2-4A meet in Los Alamos on May 10.
For Española, Victor Parra qualified in the high jump as he looks to defend his podium placement from last year. He placed second at districts, clearing 5 feet, 2 inches.
Neveah Cachora qualified for state with second-place finishes in the 1600 meters and the 3200 meters. Her 3200-meter time ranks ninth entering state.
And Española Valley’s sprint medley relay girls team qualified with a second-place finish, with a team of Katie Alire, Averi Schultz, Hailey Renteria and Neveah Cachora.
For Pojoaque, Mikayla Calabaza won first place in both the shot put and the discus, blowing out the competition by 30 feet in the discus. Her top discus throw ranks second entering the state meet, 13 inches behind the leader.
Lauryn Branch also qualified in the shot put with a second-place finish at 33 feet, 6.5 inches.
Steven Dolcine placed second in the 100-meter dash at 11.47 seconds. He also had already qualified in the 200 meters, and did not run that at districts.
Other Elks came close to qualifying but did not quite make it, including Alan Padilla, who was third in both the javelin and discus.
“It was cold and windy, but the kids did their best and it was fun,” Pojoaque Coach Terrell Calabaza wrote in a text message.
Los Alamos won the overall team standings with a stunning 216 points for girls and 202.5 for boys.