Portales girls a close second in Love meet

Portales High freshman Sheraya Cox outdid herself — by quite a bit — in Friday's Jim Love Invite track meet at PHS.

Cox earned two qualifying marks for Class 3A state competition, including a distance of 15 feet, 9 inches to finish second in long jump, as the Lady Rams finished second with 92 points, six behind District 4-3A rival Ruidoso.

CMI correspondent photo: Joshua Lucero

Portales junior Kenya Gray clears a hurdle en route to a time of 17.49 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles at the Jim Love Invite Friday at Portales High School.

Texico's girls were third in the seven-school meet with 74 points. Lovington dominated the boys competition with 118 points, while Texico was fifth (58 1/2) and Portales sixth (50 1/2).

Cox, whose previous best in long jump was 15-2, said the breezy conditions made it rather challenging.

"It was kind of hard with the wind," she said. "I want to try to get at least 16 feet by the time I get to state."

As a freshman, Cox was one of the main cogs in the Lady Rams' strong basketball season, which ending with a disappointing loss to rival Lovington in the state quarterfinals.

She said basketball is her favorite sport, but she also enjoys track.

"It's fun," she said. "It's another sport, and you're hanging out with friends."

Ready for track — Texico's McKenzi Mayfield is also making the transition from basketball. The Lady Wolverines suffered a heartbreaking 51-49 semifinal loss in the Class 2A semifinals to eventual champion Navajo Prep.

With Texico leading by a point, Navajo Prep's Krishia Artieda put up a difficult baseline shot that hit the front rim, bounced off the board and fell through in the final minute.

"I remember it well," said Mayfield, who was defending Artieda on the play.

Mayfield, though, said she thoroughly enjoys track. On Friday she anchored the Lady Wolverines' 400 and 800 relays to victory, and ran the third leg on the 1,600 medley relay which won in 4:41.58.

"It's tough," she said of the transition from roundball. "But Mel (Lucero, fellow senior and basketball player) and I really like track. We've been pumped for it all year."

Double qualifiers — For the first time in his 14 seasons, Portales High boys track coach Glenn Johnson has two qualifiers for state in pole vault.

Sophomore Kobi Shillings finished fifth and senior Brandon Jaynes sixth, both at 11 feet, the state-qualifying standard.

"For two years in high school, that's what I've been working for," Shillings said. "Yesterday I went up a pole length, and I think that pushed me over the top."

Neither Jaynes, who began pole vaulting last year, nor Schillings had gone higher than 10-6 in a meet before Friday. Jaynes said it's going to take a bit more than that to do well at state.

"We're really excited," he said. "We're going to have to set some new goals, it's so early in the season.

"I kind of did (think we could do it). The last two days in practice, I've gone 11 feet. But overall, I didn't anticipate doing it this early."

Shillings was surprised, too.

"A little, but I think the pole made a big difference," he said. "And today we had a 'backwind,' which helped us."