At the start of the year, Escalante track star Nate Martinez gave up an event to join the relay team.
He originally focused on his individual events. But he later decided to help his teammates and run in the 4×200-meter relay.
That decision proved fruitful at the district championships, where the Escalante relay team took first place with Martinez in the second leg.
“It’s paid off,” Martinez said. “It’s a really good team, we have good chemistry. Every relay team goes through a lot. And after last week, it feels really good that we finally got our baton handoff good.”
Martinez finished the day with five district wins, and the Escalante boys won first place in the District 5-2A track and field championships on their home track on April 28, and the Mesa Vista boys were second. The Questa girls took first place in the team competition, while many local boys and girls will be competing this weekend at the state championships.
“Everybody wants to win districts and stuff like that, but that’s not really our main thing,” Escalante coach Isaac Royston said. “Our main thing is, get as many people as you can to Albuquerque, and see what happens from there. And that’s what we did.”
The state meet will be on Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque at the University of New Mexico facility.
The weather cooperated for the first time all season for many northern teams, with a warm and sunny day with only a slight wind.
Escalante’s Martinez led the day with five championships. He won first place in the 100-meter dash, 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles (against just one competitor), and blew the field away in the long jump with a personal-best 20 feet, 2.5 inches, that ranks fourth in the state. He also won first place as part of the 4×200-meter relay.
Another source for Martinez’s success? His time as a manager for the girls volleyball team in the fall, after a friend on the team convinced him to help for the year.
“Constantly jumping against the girls, hitting against them,” Martinez said. “It helped build my jumping stamina. Consistently jumping helps a lot.”
Escalante also won the 4×400-meter relay.
Luka Torrez won the 400-meter dash, with teammate Braylon Emery in second place behind him.
Leroy Salazar won first place by a wide margin in both the discus and javelin.
“It’s a very good way to end my senior year,” Salazar said.
Salazar said he was sick during the week of the state tournament a year ago, and he finished far off the podium. He hopes to be at full strength this year and throw with his full potential.
“We’re just going to go to state and try to give it our all,” Salazar said. “Give every ounce of strength I have left. Been training for this for a long time.”
On the girls side, Escalante had Hannah Lopez taking first place in the 400-meter dash. Ashley Gilmore won the 300-meter hurdles when the leader fell over the last hurdle, though Gilmore false started out of the shorter hurdles. And they won first place in the girls 4×100 relay.
Katelyn Hinds also took second place in the javelin despite only having three days of practice, in her first competition in the event, qualifying for state.
Mesa Vista’s performances were led by eighth-grader Ezequiel Nevarez, who won the 800-meter and 1600-meter races. He also finished second in the 3200-meter run, with the fourth-best qualifying time in the state, giving him a strong chance to medal this weekend.
Jordan Cervantes won first place in the boys 200 meters after finishing third in the hotly-contested 100 meters, and was part of first-place teams in the 4×100 and the sprint medley relay.
Camryn Johnson won first place in the girls shot put, and Amarissa Quintana finished second in the girls 200 meters while also qualifying in the 100.
Mesa Vista has a much bigger team this year than in previous years, especially on the girls side.
“Track had never been, like, a serious sport at the school,” first-year girls coach Alycia Campos said. “After the first couple practices, we had a couple more girls show up, and they saw it was, like, an actual sport. It wasn’t just a time to mess around. That’s where the involvement increased.”
McCurdy finished the day without a first-place finish, though Casey Nevarez placed second in the boys 100 and 200 meters. Aubrey Cordova was also second in the girls 400, and eighth-grader Marisol Serna was second in the 3200. McCurdy was second in the sprint medley relay, and in the 4×800 where they have the third-best qualifying time. Serna also enters state as the third seed.
Escalante has many strong chances for medals this weekend. Martinez is the second seed in the 110 hurdles — and he defeated the top seed (Malik Barrens from Pecos) earlier at the Northern Rio Grande meet — and third in the 300 hurdles.
Felice Baca is the top seed in the 200-meter dash in a blistering time she set in Questa (though it is unclear if that is a discrepancy). The girls 4×100 meter team is the second seed.
“Just for now, I’m going to say, if I win that gold,” Martinez said. “That’s what I’m going for, that gold.”