Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
HOBBS - To say the Clovis High boys cross country team ran away with the Hobbs Invitational might be underselling it a little.
Clovis was so good from top to bottom at Thursday's race that if its top two runners were disqualified, the Wildcats still would have beaten the host Eagles by nine points for first place at the seven-team meet.
Hobbs claimed the individual winner with Patrick Colburn's 15:38, but the Wildcats took five of the next seven places to finish with 25 points in a dominant victory. The Eagles were second with 58 points, followed by Lovington (95) and Hereford (99).
Jon Fuentes (15:49) and Jerrick Maldonado (16:03) finished second and third, and the Wildcats got high finishes from T.J. Gregg (fifth, 16:16), Jose Salas (seventh, 16:16) and Kannon Brooks (eighth, 17:03).
"The running is fast," Clovis coach Mark Bussen said. "Last year, Jose won that race in 16:30 and it was a little shorter. These guys are just running really fast right now. It's fun to watch. The 5-6-7 guys, you get worried, but Kannon PRed on this course. To beat Hobbs by 33 is pretty significant."
Elias Calderon (13th, 17:26) and Colton Wolf (18th, 17:52) weren't far behind.
In the girls competition, Clovis took fourth place with 83 points. Hereford cruised to the team win with 31 points and medalist Sabbatha Taylor (19:09). Hereford was followed by Lovington (53), Hobbs (71), Clovis and Carlsbad (103).
"Last week was the first time we had all seven, and this week we had a few out with choir," Bussen said. "We're only 11 points from Hobbs, and they're the leading team in district. If we're at full strength, we feel like we could catch Hobbs around district time. That's kind of the goal for the girls."
Annalysse Hamlett led the way for Clovis, finishing sixth at 20:51. She was followed by Shylee Tree (16th, 22:25), Faith Hays (17th, 22:26), Sofia Rico (25th, 24:14), Veronica Perez (27th, 24:43) and Ali Tree (30th, 25:57).
Clovis is back in action Saturday at the Pecos Valley Invite in Roswell.
