5/21/09
The Mesa Vista Trojans left the 2009 Class A-AA state track meet having learned a tough lesson. You may be better than you were last year, but you’re not the only one.
“Your opponents are improving too,” Mesa Vista coach Ben Sandoval said. “They’re working hard, maybe harder than you are, to get better.”
That lesson reared its head May 13, the first day of the two-day meet. It was the finals of the Class AA boys 800-meter run. The Trojans’ Jaime Cruz Jr. had taken third place in that race last year, and both of the runners who finished ahead of him had graduated. He was one of the favorites going into the finals.
Cruz ran hard, and his final time of 2 minutes, 2.72 seconds was nearly five seconds faster than last year. Last year, that time would have made him a state champion.
This year, he finished fourth.
Cruz’s teammate Haliey Lucero also returned as a favorite in her specialty, the 3200-meter run. Lucero finished third in 2008 behind Cloudcroft twin sisters Courtney and Camille Schultz, who then graduated. Lucero improved her time this year in the 3200 by six seconds, clocking in at 12:29, but that barely got her onto the medal stand. She took sixth.
The hard work of Trojan freshman Julia Martinez put her on the medal podium for the first time in her budding career. After finishing seventh in the 400-meter run and eighth in the 800-meter run as an eighth grader, Martinez moved up the ladder this season.
In the 800-meter finals, Martinez lowered her time by eight seconds to 2 minutes and 27 seconds and earned a fourth-place medal. In the 400-meter May 14, she improved her time from 1:04.95 to 1:02.27 and took third place. Both runners who finished ahead of Martinez in the 400 were graduating seniors, so she could be a favorite next year.
“Julia works hard to get better,” Sandoval said.
Senior Adrian Coronado, who finished second in the pole vault in both 2007 and 2008, cleared 11 feet, 6 inches this year. It was only good enough for fifth place, even though it was six inches higher than he had previously cleared at state.
Mesa Vista’s Zach Woolems earned a fourth-place medal in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 10 inches. In his specialty, the 110-meter hurdles, he finished fifth last year with a time of 17.31 seconds. This year, his faster time of 16.83 didn’t earn him a medal and he finished eighth.
Cruz Jr. wrapped up the scoring for the Trojans with a personal-best heave of 152 feet in the javelin, good enough for fifth place. Clayton’s Ryan Diller outdid everyone with a new Class AA state record of 179 feet, 5 inches. It was the farthest throw in any class at the 2009 state track meets.
The Mesa Vista boys team finished with 11 points and placed 16th out of 23 teams, while the Lady Trojans scored eight points and were 18th.
McCurdy School may have had a look at a future state champion in freshman Louie Martinez, who played starting quarterback for the Bobcats last fall. Martinez took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 3.5 inches.
Dulce senior Jaymes Panzy earned his team’s lone point by finishing sixth in the 300-meter hurdles.
The Lady Hawks’ Kyetiil Vicenti took third in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 10 inches.