PHS' Hurren posts second place finish

PORTALES - Emma Hurren didn't start as well as she'd hoped, but she finished just fine.

The Portales High freshman said she went out a little fast on the 3.1-mile course at Eastern New Mexico University before recovering to post a solid second-place finish on Saturday as PHS hosted a cross country event for the first time in the program's three-year history.

Lovington won both sides of the triangular, finishing with 20 points to 26 for New Mexico Military and 39 for the Rams in boys competition. Meantime, the Lady Wildcats outlasted NMMI 22-25 on the girls side, with PHS coming in at 32.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was the first day of sports competition for New Mexico high schools since the end of the state basketball tournament in mid-March.

Despite the third-place finishes, PHS coach Laura McNeill said she was pleased with her teams' overall performance.

"I'm very proud of our athletes, proud everyone finished," she said. "Our varsity girls are young. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can pull off this year."

Lovington junior Vanessa Gallegos won the event in a time of 20 minutes, 20 seconds.

Hurren, who clocked 23:37, said it took some getting used to - running in the spring and in a new area of the country. She said she had competed in varsity cross country as a seventh- and eight-grader in Spartanburg, S.C., before transferring to PHS in the fall.

"I definitely overshot at the beginning," she said. "I underestimated how fast (Gallegos) was going. But it was fun to race - I'm happy we got to get out and run."

Sophomores Zoe Berry (25:35) and Aliyah Miranda (26:23) finished eighth and ninth for the Lady Rams, respectively, while eighth-grader Hannah Riess was 13th in 29:44.

"It's weird," Hurren said of running in the spring. "I'm used to more hills, but the wind today made it feel like there were hills."

The top finisher for the PHS boys was sophomore Michael Riess, who came in third in 18:06. Lovington's Derrick Castillanos easily won the race with a time of 17:14.

Other PHS finishes included junior Evan Carbajal, 10th in 21:41; sophomore Cody Webster, 12th in 22:07; senior Damian Jocovo, 14th in 23:08, and senior Traise Cain, 15th in 23:56.

McNeill said the boys lost some of the runners they would have had during the fall, but added that they are making strides.

"I expected them to finish about where they did," she said. "The boys have a lot of talent, and I think it a couple of weeks we're going to be where we need to be."

Entering her second season at the helm, McNeill is trying to grow the program. The Rams and Lady Rams had a handful of state qualifiers in 2019, and now they're trying to take the next step.

"We have complete boys and girls varsity and junior varsity (squads), which is exciting," she said. "We'd love to get a team to the state level. Right now our biggest goals are to stay safe and healthy."

This year's abbreviated regular season includes only three meets. The District 4-4A meet is slated to be hosted by Roswell Goddard on March 20, with a potential state meet and site still up in the air.

Cats, Lady Cats open at Carlsbad - Clovis High's squads opened the season at Carlsbad, with Loving also competing. With limited numbers running, no team scores were kept.

The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats, though, did quite well, taking the first four spots in the girls meet and the top two for the boys in the three-mile event.

"It was a good race," first-year coach Liz Ledezma said. "The kids did well considering we haven't been able to consistently practice lately."

Nine boys competed for the Cats and eight finished, including four who ran up from the junior varsity level. Senior Jerrick Maldonado won the event with a time of 17:17, followed by freshman Collyn Tomoyose in 18:26, eighth-grader Sammy Fuentes in 18:56 and junior Jase Nordgren in 19:14.

Other finishes for CHS included junior Nehemiah Gonzales, seventh in 19:41; sophomores Hayden Levy, eighth in 19:55, and Gavin McKelvain, 12th in 21:17, and eighth-grader Rudolfo Ledezma, 14th in 24:17.

For the Lady Cats, senior Katarina Arbogast was the winner in 22:12 while junior Shylee Tree was runnerup with a time of 22:54. Also, sophomore Odalys Olivas placed fifth in 25:15, eighth-grader Kira Tree was sixth in 25:36 and junior Jackie Diosdado came in 10th in 27:15.

Ledezma said the long delay in the season cost her some runners, The program's overall numbers dropped from about 40 to the low 20s, she said.

"We were pretty (disappointed) because we started (with pods) in June," she said. "But the runners that stayed with us are pretty motivated."

The wait has perhaps been as long for Maldonado as anyone. Originally credited with a Class 5A state title as a junior in November 2019, film of the race indicated that he actually finished second to Triston Charles of Piedra Vista.

Maldonado and then-coach Mark Bussen requested that the New Mexico Activities Association change the result, making Charles first and Maldonado second, and the organization did that.

As a result, he's had to wait extra long for his chance to legitimately win the title.

"We're excited to see what he does," Ledezma said. "He's been a good leader for us.

"Even though we lost some runners, the boys that are here are stepping up."

She also expects Tomoyose to do well behind Maldonado.

For the girls, senior Ali Tree (Shylee's sister) is recovering from a knee injury, and Ledezma hopes to have her services perhaps as early as this week when CHS hosts a meet on Saturday at Ned Houk Park. Shylee Tree and Arbogast should also do well, she said.