Pojoaque Valley High School senior Steven Dolcine hasn’t always had the best living environment growing up, which has hindered his desire to participate in sports.
But in the last two years, he has found a home on the track and is making the most of his opportunity.
He qualified for the New Mexico state track and field meet last year in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, as well as the long jump, taking fifth in the 200 in a time of 22.21 seconds, seven-tenths of a second faster than his qualifying time.
“I would say I did really well since last year was my first year,” Dolcine said. “Getting fifth place was a really big deal because it was my first year. Growing up as a kid, I wasn’t in the right situation at home to do sports. But my foster parents gave me the encouragement I needed to pursue track last year. I felt like it would be a good thing for me so last year I went for it.”
And it turned out to be a wise decision.
“I actually really enjoyed it and it was really fun,” Dolcine said.
But now his expectations are quite a bit different.
“I’d say they’re a lot higher,” he said. “I would really like to qualify in the 100, 200, 400 and long jump. Long jump for sure, if for no other reason than I kept scratching at state. I don’t have the technique all the way correct. And my other main goal is getting my all opens through to the finals.”
As for what track means, well, Dolcine said the life lessons have been invaluable.
“I really like the mentality track is giving me and the ability to learn and the exercising and the good will,” he said. “I feel like running in general, I will take with me, keeping my body in good condition. Track is a discipline I needed. I’m aware that it is something that what I put in, I get something back.”
For the boys as a whole, coach Terrell Calabaza is looking to get more athletes qualified for state, with senior Alan Padilla well placed to make it in the javelin and sophomore Daniel Herrera in the long jump.
The medley relay team also appears to be in good shape, the coach said.
“We have a lot of fast boys and we’re trying to line up hand-offs for our relay team,” Calabaza said. “If we can do that, we can take a lot more boys to state.”
On the girls side of things, the coach’s younger sister, senior Mikayla Calabaza has already qualified in both the shotput and discus, marking her fourth consecutive state meet appearance.
And this season she is looking for some redemption after getting the runner-up medal in the discus by a mere three inches with a heave of 124-feet, 2-inches.
“That has been a huge motivation,” Mikayla Calabaza said. “I barely lost, but it was very exciting. I didn’t know I got second until the very end. It was kind of heartbreaking because I could have done better. Still, it proved something to myself because I didn’t place in either my freshman or sophomore seasons.”
As a matter of fact, her goals have jumped considerably now.
“I hope to get first place in both and hopefully break the state record and break school record in the discus,” she said.
The 27-year-old 4A record is 136-2, while the school record is 130 feet.
As for the rest of the girls squad, the team took quite a hit when it was realized that graduation falls in the middle of the state meet, so many competitors opted out this season, Terrell Calabaza said.
That leaves the team with just five members, but sophomore Valentina Martinez and junior Estrella Guillen are sprinters who show real promise, he said.
“They’re hitting a lot of faster marks, faster times,” Terrell Calabaza said. “We wanted to be able to run at least every relay and hit below a certain mark. As a small team, they’re pretty versatile in what they want to do. We’re keeping the girls on track. They’re managing themselves pretty well.”