Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Clovis' Jerrick Maldonado cruises to the district cross country championship Saturday at Marry McAdams Park in Hobbs.
HOBBS - Boys and girls teams from both Clovis High and Portales High have qualified for state cross country competition this weekend, scheduled for Albuquerque Academy H.S.
In Saturday's Class 4-5A district meet, CHS took the boys team title with 13 team points to 27 for host Hobbs, while on the girls side the Lady Eagles were first with 15 points to 26 for the Lady Wildcats. Neither Carlsbad nor Roswell High had enough runners on either side to have a full squad.
Senior Jerrick Maldonado led the Clovis boys, winning the individual championship with a time of 16 minutes, 44 seconds over 3.06 miles, while teammate Collyn Tomoyose claimed second place at 17:43. Eighth-grader Sammy Fuentes was fourth, junior Jase Nordgren placed sixth and junior Hayden Levy finished ninth for the Wildcats.
For the girls, senior Katarina Arbogast was second for CHS at 20:21, eighth seconds behind winner Yisel Palacios of Hobbs. Sisters Shylee and Alli Tree ran fifth and sixth overall, respectively, for the Lady Cats.
"They ran really well," Clovis coach Liz Ledezma said of her squads. "They stepped up and ran hard. I'm super-proud of both teams for qualifying for state."
Clovis will compete on Saturday at Academy, with the girls scheduled to run at noon and the boys to follow around 12:30 p.m.
Meantime, Portales squads finished second to Lovington in both boys and girls competition at the Class 4-4A meet on Saturday, hosted by Roswell Goddard.
Sophomore Michael Riess ran 16:55 to finish second, nipped at the wire by Lovington sophomore Derick Castellanos (16:54). Rams junior Evan Carbajal was sixth in 19:07.
"They were head-to-head," Portales coach Laura McNeill said of Castellanos and Riess. "The race finishes on the track (at Roswell's Wool Bowl). Michael was in the lead until about the last 100 meters.
"We're looking forward to seeing how he does at state."
Meantime, freshman Emma Hurren placed second in 21:46 and sophomore Zoe Roy third in 23:16 for the Lady Rams, behind talented Lovington junior Vanessa Gallegos (19:13).
Riess for the boys and sophomore Aliyah Miranda for the girls were among three athletes who were the initial state qualifiers last year in the second year of the PHS program.
"We're very proud to be taking both teams to state," McNeill said.
The PHS boys are slated to run at 2 p.m. on Friday, followed by the girls at 2:30 p.m.
