Pojoaque Valley High School’s Mikayla Calabaza set a school record in the discus throw at the Larry Baca Memorial Invitational in Los Alamos on May 4.
Calabaza’s final throw sailed 130 feet, 6 inches, to take first place at the meet. She will look to keep up her strong performance at Friday’s district championship in Taos, and the following week at the state championships.
Pojoaque also had Steven Dolcine place fourth in the boys long jump and fifth in the 400-meter dash. Dolcine has already qualified for state in the 200 meters, and is close behind the district leader in the javelin.
A senior, Dolcine “got out of his shell” and joined the track team for the first time this year. He made an immediate impact on the team, and was named a captain.
Pojoaque coach Terrell Calabaza (Mikayla’s brother) said that he competed in high school with Dolcine’s brother.
“He’s definitely brought good energy,” Calabaza said. “He’s encouraged a lot of people, gone out of his way, got a lot of the athletes who were hard-headed, and he was able to change that.”
Alan Padilla placed third in the javelin and sixth in the boys discus.
And Elizabeth Towles placed third in the 3200 meters. And Mikayla Calabaza also finished second in the shot put, while Lauryn Branch was seventh.
Branch, Marisela Bowie, and other athletes are close to the qualifying standards. But if they do not hit those standards, qualifying is always tough in a district with dominant Los Alamos.
Athletes have to reach the top two at the district meet, or hit the qualifying standard, to reach the state meet.
Española Valley
The Sundevils had an upheaval in the track team when Daniel Velasquez stepped down midway through the season. Football coach Tylon Wilder stepped up midway through the year.
But the team had been afflicted with a bad case of “senioritis” — hardly any seniors joined the team, making it hard to field relay teams.
“But the kids who are here competing in the individual events, they’re doing pretty good,” Wilder said.
The team is still looking for any qualifiers for state, and will fight for spots at districts.
Española’s top finisher in Los Alamos was Neveah Cachora in the 1600 meters; she placed fourth with a time of 5:52.
For the boys, Victor Parra, who placed sixth in the boys high jump. Freshman Elijah Martinez finished ninth in the boys 800-meter race while battling an injury. And their 4×100 relay team placed sixth.
Wilder said that Parra is close to qualifying in several events.
But Wilder said that districts is going to remain difficult.
“We’ve got AP testing that day, we’ve got prom on Saturday we’ve got finals all (that week),” Wilder said. “Now you throw a district track meet right in the middle of it. It’s going to be pretty rough on the kids, mentally and physically.”