Lady Buffs second in 1A

ALBUQUERQUE - Clovis Christian's track squads had a solid day overall in Thursday's Class 1A state meet at the University of New Mexico track facility.

The Eagles and Lady Eagles fell just short of their team goal, however, which was to earn a trophy for a top-3 finish. Meantime, the Melrose girls collected some hardware, edging past Gateway Christian 59-58 for second place behind Logan (79), with Clovis Christian fourth at 50.

On the boys side, Magdalena slipped past the Longhorns 69-67 for team honors. CCS was again fourth with 43, 11 points behind Mountainair, while Melrose came in ninth with 25 points.

"We left some points out there, and it came back to bite us in the end," CCS coach Cordy Wilhoit said.

Sophomore Sofia De Groot paced the Lady Eagles, winning long jump and triple jump with meet record distances, while also winning the 400, placing second in the 200 and taking fifth in the 100. She earned high-point honors in the girls' division with 28 points.

"It was pretty awesome," De Groot said. "I wasn't really expecting it, but it's amazing to see all the hard work pay off."

De Groot edged out her older sister, Lola, in triple jump and long jump - both De Groots bettered Lola's previous meet record of 33 feet, 4 1/2 inches in the latter, set in 2019 - while Lola finished second in all three jumps despite battling dehydration.

Sofia De Groot lost out to District 6-1A rival Kaylee Williams of Logan in the 200, saying the two have battled each other in almost every meet this spring.

"We've actually become kind of good friends," De Groot said. "It's awesome to be friends and be friendly competitors."

For the CCS boys, senior Kane Duong won discus competition at 126-6 and finished third in shot put (41-4). Senior Dawson Teune placed second in triple jump and the 110 hurdles, and third in high jump and the 800.

The Eagles blew away the field in the first-year 3,200 relay, winning by nearly 40 seconds with a time of 9 minutes, 27.62 seconds.

"I told them, 'Boys, get out there and set a record that won't be broken for a long time,'" Wilhoit said. "We knew going in we were going to win it; the question was by how much."

Sophomore Paityn Nicholson led the Melrose girls to their runnerup finish, breaking her own record from 2019 in winning shot put at 35-1 3/4 and taking discus with a throw of 95 feet.

"It was pretty nice, but it was really hot," Nicholson said. "The adrenaline kept me going."

Jemez Valley's Amanda Chosa also broke Nicholson's previous mark (33-11 1/2) en route to a second-place finish in shot (34-9 3/4).

"I knew there was another girl who was close to me," Nicholson said, adding that her best mark came in the first round and held up.

Freshman Graci Odom took second in the 100 hurdles - she was edged by .005 seconds by Mountainair's Sarajo Griego - and third in the 300 hurdles for the Lady Buffs, while freshman Heidi Macfarlane was second in pole vault.

The top performance for the Melrose boys was a second-place showing in the 1,600 medley relay, where the Buffaloes posted a time of 4:13.84.

"The girls got up and competed today, and the boys did as well," Melrose coach Casey Jackson said. "Everybody ran their fastest times up there, which is what you want."

Also in boys competition, Floyd finished in a three-way tie for 14th with Carrizozo and Cliff, each posting seven points, while Dora collected four points to place 21st.

Senior Eli Terry notched a second-place finish in the 800 for the Broncos (2:12.64) and came in fifth in triple jump (37-7 1/4), while the Coyotes' 3,200 relay team of freshman Caden Smith and sophomores Jaeden Hays, Jordan Hurst and Gavin Martin nabbed fourth place at 10:26.53.

Texico competes in 2A - The Wolverines and Lady Wolverines sent 16 athletes to Friday's Class 2A meet, but only four of them - one girl and three boys - were above the freshman class.

The Wolverines scored in two events and finished in a three-way tie for 17th with Tatum and Santa Fe-based Academy for Tech and the Classics in boys competition, all tallying seven points.

Junior Cade Collins was fourth for Texico in the 400 (53.39), and anchored the 1,600 relay team - also including freshmen Kayden Queener, Ariel Garcia and Cade Figg - to a fourth-place showing in a time of 3:51.82.

The lone scoring place for the Lady Wolverines came from freshman Cadence Smith, who earned two points by placing fifth in the 400 at 1:04.11.

Hagerman dominated field events - led by 1-2-3 finishes in shot put and discus from senior Jose Jaramillo, sophomore David Chacon and junior Julian Andavazo - and took boys team honors with 127 1/2 points to 75 for runnerup Santa Rosa. Rehoboth Christian captured the girls team title with 91 points, following by Academy for Tech and the Classics at 82.