Young Lady Cats step up

Darrel Ray knew if his team performed well, it would certainly have a chance for a District 4-5A track title.

The Lady Wildcats got most of the points they were counting on and tacked on a few they weren’t, turning the two-day meet at Leon Williams Stadium into a runaway.

Senior Monique Walker won two events and anchored two CHS relay teams to victory as the Lady Cats piled up eight first-place finishes and 149 points. Eldorado was second with 117 points.

“The kids did a great job,” Ray said. “Our coaches made great entries in terms of strategy. They were able to give people as much rest as possible.

“We were ahead of projections just because the kids did an outstanding job of competing. To be honest with you, this is the first time we’ve positioned our kids to win a track meet.”

Walker finished third in the 100, but won the 200 (24.96) and long jump (16-9 1/4) and also ran the final leg on the Lady Cats’ 400 and 800 relays.

Ray said perhaps the biggest surprise was freshman Kela Williams’ win in the 100 hurdles in a personal-best 15.94 after she hadn’t run it for about a month due to a hamstring problem. Williams qualified for state by winning the event, but her time would have qualified her anyway.

“They kind of surprised me (Friday) when they threw me in there,” Williams said of the hurdles. “I wasn’t really nervous until it started.”

She also ran the first two legs on the 400 and 800 relays, but said her events were spaced out just about right on Saturday, starting with the 400 relay.

“Winning that helped a lot because it loosened me up for the hurdles, and that loosened me up for the 4-by-2,” Williams said. “Everything was still stretched out.”

Other winners for Clovis were sophomores Kim Perkins in the 300 hurdles (a season-best 47.24), Brittany Blackmon in high jump (5-1) and junior Cristin Vick in pole vault (9-6).

“We had good performances by lots of those young kids,” Ray said. “Everybody ran extremely well.”

Other than Walker, the only individual double-winners were Carlsbad sophomore JoJo Calderon (800 and 1,600) and Eldorado senior Vanessa Frangos (shot put and discus).

Although she couldn’t keep the Cavegirls out of the meet cellar, Calderon won impressively in the 1,600 and had enough to hold off the field in the 800.

Last year at state, she won the 1,600 in 5:23.72 and came in second in the 800 in 2:19.23.

“I was tired after the mile (1,600); I wasn’t ready for the 800,” Calderon said. “I hope to win next week; that’s what I’m shooting for. Anything can happen at state.”

Frangos figures she’ll have a tough time competing with Valley’s Michelle Nelson next week at state. Nelson has gone 44 feet in shot and more than 140 in discus.

“I was concerned,” she said after winning Saturday’s discus competition handily at 118-3. “I no-marked last week (in a meet in Albuquerque), so I was excited I was able to pull it together.”

In shot put, Clovis finished 2-3-4-6 behind Frangos, led by Kacee Escobar. She was only three inches out of the lead at 37-2 before Frangos stretched the margin by going 37-11 on her final attempt.

“Clovis was very intimidating because they had four in the top six,” Frangos said. “I performed about where I wanted to, but next week’s going to be a lot of work.”

Team — 1. Clovis 149, 2. Eldorado 117, 3. Hobbs 71, 4. Manzano 56, 5. Carlsbad 54.

Running events

100 — 1. Kaylie Brooks, Manzano, 12.29; 2. Kathy Tyson, Hobbs, 12:32; 3. Monique Walker, Clovis, 12:44; 4. Helen Morning, Clovis, 12.89; 5. Hawa Konte, Eldorado, 12.95; 6. Melissa Metcalf, Eldorado, 13.10.

200 — 1. Monique Walker, Clovis, 24.96; 2. Kaylie Brooks, Manzano, 24.97; 3. Helen Morning, Clovis, 26.64; 4. Hawa Konte, Eldorado, 26.76; 5. Lindsey Felcetti, Eldorado, 26.95; 6. Heather Malloy, Clovis, 27.36.

400 — 1. Caitlin Demarest, Eldorado, 1:00.42; 2. Laura Sandall, Eldorado 1:00.72; 3. Vanessa O’Neal, Clovis, 1:01.84; 4. Cassie Belford, Clovis, 1:03.50; 5. Kourtnie Cole, Clovis, 1:05.22.

100 hurdles — 1. Kela Williams, Clovis, 15.94; 2. Katelyn Schwartz, Hobbs, 16.22; 3. Rachel Carrillo, Hobbs, 16.55; 4. Jessie Green, Eldorado, 16.76; 5. Caitlin Walker, Manzano, 17.35; 6. Marie Cabrera, Eldorado, 18.20.

300 hurdles — 1. Kim Perkins, Clovis, 47.24; 2. Jessie Green, Edorado, 47.36; 3. Mahalia Molett, Clovis 50.29; 4. Marie Cabrera, Eldorado, 50.88; 5. Heather Malloy, Clovis, 52.36; 6. Caitlin Walker, Manzano, 52.36.

800 — 1. JoJo Calderon, Carlsbad, 2:23.44; 2. Lorraine Villegas, Hobbs, 2:29.26; 3. Lynn Brasher, Eldorado, 2:31.43; 4. Cali Rush, Clovis, 2:40.81; 5. Leighanna Martinez, Eldorado, 2:43.58; 6. Tori Northcutt, Clovis, 2:46.72.

1,600 — 1. JoJo Calderon, Carlsbad, 5:24.75; 2. Melanie Velarde, Eldorado, 5:43.27; 3. Megan Willis, Clovis, 5:54.39; 4. Jordyn Phelps, Eldorado, 5:55.37; 5. Melissa Clark, Clovis, 5:56.42; 6. Tori Northcutt, Clovis, 5:59.00.

3,200 — 1. Anna Petrov, Eldorado, 12:12.53; 2. Melanie Velarde, Eldorado, 12:35.74; 3. Melissa Clark, Clovis, 12:53.04; 4. Megan Willis, Clovis, 13:22.44; 5. Brittany Mason, Carlsbad, 13:30.95; 6. Kim Fernandez, Manzano, 13:38.36.

400 relay — 1. Clovis 49.61; 2. Eldorado 50.68; 3. Hobbs 51.68; 4. Manzano 52.04; 5. Carlsbad 53.15.

800 relay — 1. Clovis 1:46.19; 2. Hobbs 1:46.25; 3. Eldorado 1:46.52; 4. Manzano 1:52.21; 5. Carlsbad 1:54.99.

1,600 medley relay — 1. Eldorado 4:22.35; 2. Carlsbad 4:39.56; 3. Clovis 4:41.83; 4. Manzano 4:42.90; 5. Hobbs 4:58.72.

1,600 relay — 1. Eldorado 4:06.65; 2. Clovis 4:09.69; 3. Manzano 4:12.43; 4. Hobbs 4:14.95; 5. Carlsbad 4:26.68.

Field events

Long jump — 1. Monique Walker, Clovis, 16-9 1/4; 2. Kathy Tyson, Hobbs, 16-4; 3. Lizlie Varner, Hobbs, 15-9 1/2; 4. Tyanna Trammel, Manzano, 15-6 1/2; 5. Marie Cabrera, Eldorado, 15-6; 6. Ashley Williams, Manzano, 15-3.

Triple jump — 1. Tyanna Trammel, Manzano, 35-7; 2. Demetrie Young, Hobbs, 34-7 1/2; 3. Ashley Williams, Manzano, 33-11 1/2; 4. Vanessa O’Neal, Clovis, 33-11; 5. Kim Perkins, Clovis, 33-7; 6. Alex Berlin, Eldorado, 32-10 3/4.

High jump — 1. Brittany Blackmon, Clovis, 5-1; 2. Tyanna Trammel, Manzano, 4-11; 3. Mahalia Molett, Clovis, 4-11; 4. Lauren Wilson, Hobbs, 4-9; 5. Marie Cabrera, Eldorado, 4-7; 6. Tiffany Cericola, Eldorado, 4-7.

Pole vault — 1. Cristin Vick, Clovis, 9-6; 2. Stephanie Goodmon, Hobbs, 9-0; 3. (tie) Alex Berlin, Eldorado, and Melissa Metcalf, Eldorado, 8-6; 5. Danielle Mascarenas, Manzano 7-6; 6. Anita Sedillo, Manzano, 7-6.

Shot put — 1. Vanessa Frangos, Eldorado, 37-11; 2. Kacee Escobar, Clovis, 37-2; 3. Tyisha Brown, Clovis, 36-0 1/4; 4. Ashley Burns, Carlsbad, 35-3; 5. Renata Porterfield, Clovis, 33-7; 6. Alicia Odom, Clovis, 31-11.

Discus — 1. Vanessa Frangos, Eldorado, 118-3; 2. Cristen Anderson, Hobbs, 107-5; 3. Jerrika Toscano, Carlsbad, 106-9; 4. Sarah Leos, Clovis, 104-9; 5. Cheryl Schroeder, Carlsbad, 103-8; 6. Kacee Escobar, Clovis, 102-2.

Javelin — 1. Ashley Burns, Carlsbad, 111-4; 2. Kelli Egan, Carlsbad, 107-1; 3. Amanda Vanlandingham, Hobbs, 101-0 1/2; 4. Tori Quintana, Clovis, 100-10; 5. Chelsea Munoz, Carlsbad, 97-3 1/2; 6. Bianca Morales, Carlsbad, 97-1 1/2.