Cats' Fuentes takes District 4-5A cross country title

CLOVIS — Sammy Fuentes knew he would probably win Friday’s District 4-5A boys cross country meet at Ned Houk Park, but he wanted to leave no doubt.

The Clovis High sophomore went out strong from the start and posted a time of 16 minutes, 38.92 seconds over three miles, almost 30 seconds ahead of runnerup Eric Carrasco of Carlsbad.

Fuentes’ effort couldn’t keep the Wildcats out of a last-place finish in the four-school get-together. They finished with 69 points while the Cavemen (46) edged out Roswell High (49) and Hobbs (50) for team honors.

Meantime, the Lady Wildcats posted a solid second-place team finish with 38 points, trailing Hobbs (24).

Fuentes, who finished fourth each of the last two seasons in the district meet, had missed the Cats’ previous outing due to the flu. Still, he overcame the brisk, chilly conditions with a solid race.

“It’s an all-right time,” he assessed of his performance. “I could’ve run faster if I hadn’t been sick.”

Fuentes said he felt good coming in, and wasn’t really bothered by the cool weather.

“I knew I was going to win it,” Fuentes said. “Mentally I was a little nervous coming in, but I wasn’t going to let anybody beat me. I’ve worked too hard.”

He’s set a goal of earning a medal (top-20) in Saturday’s Class 5A state meet at Albuquerque. Last year, he came in 41st in the 5K event in a time of 18:03.23.

“I want to get top 10, or at least top 15,” Fuentes said. “I don’t want to let myself go below that.”

The Lady Cats competed well with Hobbs, putting five runners in the top 10 — led by eighth-grader Brooke Newcomer (22:08.19) and freshman Jarelly Navarrete 23:33.33.

Still, they were unable to overcome Hobbs’ 1-2-3 finish, led by senior Bhret Clay’s time of 19:53.53.