Relays taken by Storm

As idioms go, something taken by storm was won quickly and convincingly. In Friday's Wildcat Relays at Leon Williams Stadium, taken by the Storm meant pretty much the same thing.

CMI correspondent: Joshua Lucero

Wildcat Fernando Garcia tosses the javelin 121 feet during qualifying Friday afternoon atthe Wildcat Relays

Backed by a 22 1/2-point day from Parker Jones, Cleveland cruised to its second-consecutive team victory in Clovis' signature meet. Even without the injured Rommell Jordan, Cleveland posted 133 1/2 points to easily top Cibola (64).

Storm coach Kenny Henry credited Jones with some key finishes, including a win in the 200 over defending state champion Devin Enslen of Alamogordo, a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 and the 110 hurdles, a fourth-place finish in the high jump and his role on the Storm's first-place 400 relay squad.

Henry noted Cleveland's season has been successful because everybody has pulled their weight every week, and noted first-place finishes in the 1-mile and 2-mile from Luis Martinez often go unsung.

"We've grown accustomed to getting those points from him," Henry said, "but it's just not that easy to get them every time."

Clovis finished fourth with 46 points, just behind Rio Rancho (49) and just ahead of Alamogordo (41).

A few small breaks on relays and in the field could have helped the Wildcats — for instance, junior Kamal Cass finished a quarter-inch out of first place in long jump (21-11 1/4), behind Highland's Mustafa Mudada. But no one event really made the difference in the tight 3-4-5 race, Clovis coach Darren Kelley said, and the Wildcats wound up about where he expected.

"I was happy with the way we ran the 4-by-100," Kelley said. "The 4-by-200, we just got caught in the pack. We've got to be more physical.

"We just need to keep getting better. The nice thing is each weekend, we're dropping three-10ths, three-10ths, three-10ths. That's what we need to keep doing."

Mudada also won both the 110 and 300 hurdles to tie Jones for high-point honors, and made up most of Highland's 38 points for sixth place.

Texico managed 15 points, with Adrian Gomez taking second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 110 hurdles, while Colton Hollis was third in the 1,600 and Justin Rucker placed fifth in the 300 hurdles. Portales managed 1 1/2 points with Michael Nichols tying Cleveland's Tyler Caldwell for fifth in the 300 hurdles.