When Pojoaque Valley football coach Zeke Villegas isn’t coaching on the gridiron, he’s helping local track and field athletes prepare for the upcoming season.
Villegas, who also is the boys and girls track coach for Pojoaque Middle School, has watched the summer program grow in the short time he’s been involved.
At the USA Track and Field State Junior Olympics held Sunday at the Cleveland High School facilities in Rio Rancho,
11 locals won age group gold medals among the 40 participants.
Another 11 were runners-up and overall, 28 qualified for the regional meet next month in Phoenix, Arizona.
“We had a lot more kids at state this year,” Villegas said. “We picked up a lot more kids.”
Last year, just 14 athletes qualified for state, he said. The top six finishers at state qualify for regionals and then the top eight at regionals qualify for nationals, which are coming up at the end of July in Savannah, Georgia.
The meet was open to athletes from under eight years old to under 18, with the majority coming from his middle school program, where Villegas is in his third year.
“We give these kids an opportunity to get better and win state in high school,” he said. “That’s the reason we invest this time in them.”
The meet matches the athletes based on age, not classification.
“So it’s the best in the state against the best in the state,” Villegas said. “A lot of these kids that they were competing against are in or will be in 5A schools. We’re such a small town, but very mighty and we’re able to compete with the best.”
The summer program is vital for the athletes to learn life lessons, as well, he said.
“I think the importance of this is just teaching the kids that there is a way to get better,” he said. “With hard work, anything is possible. A lot of these girls have been doing this the last couple of years, middle school for the school year and then summer. And their improvement is amazing.”
Summer is the perfect time to fine-tune the small movements that can make a big difference.
“We work on little things, fundamentals like arm movement, knee drive, hips,” Villegas said. “Getting all the fundamentals down in the right order.”
It also shows who has the commitment because running track in the summer is not an easy thing.
“It takes a lot for them to give up their summer in order to be able to do this,” he said. “This past weekend was amazing because all that hard work they put in paid off. I believe their growth comes from the time they put in. With the middle school group I had this off-season, you can see the hard work and the time they put in makes them where they’re at.
“It helps build their confidence and mental toughness, which, as a coach, I know will get them to where they need to be to be successful.”
And as a football coach, Villegas encourages his players to try track.
“The skill players, they’re working on their speed and the lineman and linebackers are working on their strength,” he said. “Also, they’re working on being there everyday and actually putting in the effort to have that growth in football to get them to where they need to go.”
Local State Champions
Girls
14U 4×400-meter relay: Aubrey Gallegos, Anjolie Gallegos, Elena Villegas and Lilianna Garcia
14U 4×800 relay: Alexandria Roybal, Delilah Maestas, Elenna Rubio and Lexi Oyenque
8U 100 dash: Arielle Martinez
Boys
16U 110 hurdles: Santos Trujillo
14U 400: Lucas Galvan
Runners up
Girls
16U 400: Mykal Griego
14U 4×100 relay: Aubrey Gallegos, Anjolie Gallegos, Elena Villegas and Lilianna Garcia
14U 100: Anjolie Gallegos
14U 200 hurdles: Britta Vigil
14U 100 hurdles: Britta Vigil
Boys
16U Shot Put: Jaziah Romero
14U 400: Lucas Galvan
14U 4×400: Muziq Portis
Third place
Girls
16U long jump: Mykal Griego
14U 200: Aubrey Gallegos
14U 200 hurdles: Elenna Rubio
4×400 relay: Elenna Rubio, Britta Vigil, Sara Romero and Lexi Oyenque
Boys
14U 200: Muziq Portis