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Home at last

CLOVIS - It's good to be home.

Competition is competition, but the Clovis track and field team has been facing it in far-flung places like Amarillo, Hobbs and elsewhere before finally at least getting closer to home when they took part in and swept Portales' George Love Relays last weekend.

Thursday, though, Clovis gets to compete at its own home - Leon Williams Stadium, literally its own backyard - when hosting the Wildcat Relays. Start time is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Both the Clovis boys and girls teams are coming off consecutive meet championships - at Hobbs' Gene Wells Relays two weekends ago, then at Portales last weekend. The boys are defending Wildcat Relay team champions. And both the boys and girls boast a defending individual champ, with then-junior Montez Wright having won last year's boys title and then-freshman Mikyla Harkley having taken the girls crown.

Seems like a lot for the home teams to be excited about Thursday. But also some challenges.

"We're trying to get some people healthy," Clovis boys coach Mark Sena said. "Jacob Moon had a hamstring issue a couple of weeks ago in Hobbs. He's working his way through that, so we won't be quite as fast as we can be. But we're coming around, we've had some good quality practices. The load has been really heavy on these guys the last couple of weeks. This week it's going to be a little lighter since we only have three days to prepare for the track meet as opposed to the normal four. And we have (scholastic) testing this week which kind of influences what we can do. Hopefully, it'll be good for the kids to not have as much running leading up to the track meet."

There could be intrigue in all events, but Sena says one to watch is the 800-meter run, where Jerrick Maldonado and Jon Fuentes - who tore up Ned Houk Park as cross country runners last fall - are looking to make some track history.

"They're going to try and break the 800-meter school record," Sena said. "They are really close in their times, about one second off, so they're going to race each other and see which one can go get it on Thursday."

Don't forget defending Wright, who has seen most of his Leon Williams Stadium competing as a football player, and will compete there for the final time on Thursday.

"Montez will run the 1 and the 4 (100-meter dash and 400-meter run)," Sena said. "He should do really well in both."

Sena is also confident about the other facets of his team.

"Though we won't have the best jumpers at the meet, we do have some depth there," Sena said. "The relay teams should be strong all the way around. We're going to try to get our 4x4 team qualified this week. That's the one relay we have left to qualify. And hopefully our throw kids have a great day."

Sena thinks Carlsbad might offer Clovis' fiercest competition.

"They beat us in a couple of relays over there in Hobbs," Sena said. "They have the best triple- and long-jumper in the state; his name is Austin Atencio. He is the top qualifier in both the long and the triple jump. ... They're not as rounded as we are. We have throwers, they don't. We have distance kids, they don't. And our distance kids really kind of are the difference right now."

Lady 'Cats on the rise

Darrel Ray had been Clovis girls track and field coach before. He spent 11 years in the program, was gone for eight years before returning this season.

Not that Ray didn't pay some attention to how the Lady Wildcats were faring. And their finish at states in Albuquerque last May didn't sit at all well with him.

"Coach (Sena) could probably be a better testament to what they were like last year," Ray said. "All I know is when they got to the state track meet, they were the 13th team, and I don't remember any Clovis team being lower than 5. So I told them, 'We're going to change that. We're not going to be down there at 13.' Actually, they are lining up pretty well for the state tournament. I'd say they're going to be definitely, easily in the top five if not higher."

If they can win their home meet, capture their third meet championship in a row, the Lady Wildcats might well be on their way to meeting Ray's expectations. Sena likes what he's seen from Ray's team.

"We have a strong relay contingent," Sena said, "we've got Mikyla in the jumps, we've got some good throwers."

Let the competition begin.

 
 
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