Cleveland storms to victory

There was a palpable fear at the Wildcat Relays that the windy, overcast conditions that made the day comfortable for afternoon field events would turn into a cold, miserable wind for the Friday night track events.

But the temperature stayed constant at Leon Williams Stadium, and the only concern was the Storm that rushed through.

CMI photo: Kevin Wilson

Jesus Rivera of Texico throws the javelin 163 feet, 7 inches during the finals in Friday's Wildcat Relays at Leon Williams Stadium. That throw would have been good for first place, but he later topped it at 174-2.

Cleveland scored in 18 of the 19 events on the day, with four different individual medalists and a pair of relay wins, en route to an easy first-place finish at the annual meet hosted by Clovis High.

The Storm finished with 125 1/2 points, well ahead of a crowded pack in the top four. Alamogordo scored 57 points for second, just ahead of Clovis (56 1/2) and La Cueva (51 3/4).

"We've got some kids that ran really well," Cleveland coach Kenny Henry said. "I'm proud of them, to say the least."

The Storm got first-place finishes in both the 800 and medley relays, and had Luis Martinez and Aaron Floreseach finish first and third, respectively, in the 1,600 and 3,200 events.

But Henry also noted that Parker Jones and Nathan Barnes each set personal records by 4 inches in high jump — won by Alamogordo's Garrett Stockton in a jump-off — and that sophomore Brandon Lawrence ran on the 400 relay, won the 400, placed third in the 200 and then "without raising an eyebrow" jumped onto the mile relay team.

"When you have someone willing to do that," Henry said, "you know you have some good kids to work with."

Clovis coach Darren Kelley lamented numerous places the Wildcats could have grabbed another point and topped the Tigers for second place, but felt the meet was an overall success.

"The best thing today," Kelley said, "is our 4-by-100 got qualified. We improved our times in the 4-by-200 and did the same in the 4-by-400. They're getting healthier, they're running better together."

Sophomore Kamal Cass finished second in the triple jump, while senior Kenny Betts set personal bests for the year in picking up shot put (56-7 1/4) and discus (151-5).

Small schools did some damage, with Jesus Rivera's win in the javelin pacing an 18-point performance for Texico, and a 1-2 finish from Fort Sumner's Skylar McMath and Texico's Colton Hollis in the 800 — just ahead of Cleveland's Julian Rivas and Chris Guerra.

Portales didn't score at the meet, but still had some positives for the short trip home.

"We did OK," coach Glenn Johnson said. "We had some PRs from some kids, and Collin McAfee qualified in the 300 hurdles. We ran a qualifying time in the 4-by-100, but we already had that."

Johnson said Ben Blue is coming close to breaking out in the high jump and Wyatt Legler (23.63 seconds) is close to the state-qualifying time of 23.0 in the 200.