Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
HOBBS — Bob Jackson Invtiational host Hobbs didn’t get nearly the rain Clovis and Portales did over the week, but it certainly got enough to impact the course for the Thursday 5K races.
The host Eagles held off a banged-up Clovis boys team for first place, 37-52, but the Wildcats did get a 1-3 finish between Jerrick Maldonado and T.J. Gregg.
“We’re getting closer,” Clovis coach Mark Bussen said. “We were missing our 3 (Colton Wolf, stress fracture) and our 5 (Alejandro Chavarria, ankle). We stayed within 15 points of them. That’s kind of a small victory for who we ran.”
The Wildcats placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 25, and all seven varsity runners finished in the top 35.
Maldonado posted another win by finishing the 5K course in 15:45. Gregg finished at 16:08. Other scoring runners for Clovis were Kyle Richardson (17:16, ninth), Kannon Brooks (17:40, 16th) and Nehemiah Gonzales (18:22, 23rd).
Portales finished sixth at 128 points, getting a seventh-place finished from Michael Reiss (16:57) and 15th from Brando Guerro.
The Clovis girls finished fifth with 102 points, with Annalysse Hamlett (20:01, fifth) the only top-15 runner for the Wildcats — though Shylee Tree wasn’t far off with a 16th-place finish at 21:24.
“They’re not running terrible,” Bussen said. “We’re just not talented right now. Annie ran a good race. I’m hopeful the younger girls can make some strides. They’re working hard, so I can’t be upset at them.”
The Portales girls didn’t get a team score due to scoring problems, but coach Laura McNeil guessed the Rams were around 190 team points. Aliyah Miranda was Portales’ top finisher, going 23:14 for 27th place.
Both coaches said the muddy conditions were not ideal, but certainly not hazardous.
“We lost a lot of shoes during the race, which caused our kids to come in barefoot,” McNeil said. “So it was entertaining. They enjoyed racing like that. It was kind of a good break in the year, getting to play in the mud. Some of the more serious kids probably didn’t enjoy it, but we had a great time.”
