WILDCAT RELAYS: Cats' Johnson takes shot put win

CLOVIS – Clovis High senior Jeremiah Johnson knew he would need to reach back if he wanted to win boys shot put competition in Friday's Wildcat Relays at Leon Williams Stadium.

And he did just that. Putting one out there nearly 3 ½ feet farther than his previous best, he overtook Texico sophomore Taye Smith on his final throw, going 50 feet, 5 ¾ inches to win it. Smith was second at 49-5 ¾.

The Wildcats finished third in an 11-team field, scoring 68 points to 83 for Rio Rancho and 74 for Artesia. Portales High was ninth with 27 ½ points while Texico, with a small group of athletes, finished 10th with 15.

Johnson's throw gave the Cats a 1-3-4 showing in the event, with Brayden Golden going 46-7 ¾ and Gregorio Cordova 44-8 ¾.

"I was at least trying to qualify (for state)," Johnson said. "Once I hit 47 feet, one-half inch, I knew I was going to qualify, but I didn't expect to throw 50 feet."

Johnson had just gone 46-11 ½ in Monday's Sepulveda Meet of Champions in Albuquerque.

His inspiration on Friday? Smith, the defending Class 2A state champion.

"Taye threw like 49 feet," Johnson said. "I knew I had to step up my game."

Senior R.J. Nora posted wins for the Cats in the 110 hurdles (14.50), the 200 (22.51) and long jump (22-0 ¾). He also helped Clovis qualify its 400 and 800 relays for state, with those quartets posting respective times of 43.31 and 1:30.05.

Sophomore Sammy Fuentes added a win in the 1,600 in 4:33.13.

"The competition level was real high," CHS boys coach Mark Sena said. "There are spots where we were good and spots where we're not where we need to be.

"I'm pleased with the way our kids are competing. We had a lot of personal bests, and that was good to see."

In the girls' portion of the meet, Clovis came in fifth with 46 ½ points. Alamogordo (91) took team honors over Hobbs (80 ½) and Rio Rancho (77).

Portales collected 28 points for eighth place while Texico, which traveled to Fort Sumner on Saturday for the Fox-Vixen Relays, tallied three points.

Defending 5A pole vault champion Madison Parkin went 10 feet to easily win her specialty for the Lady Wildcats. Her best this season was 10-6 in a meet at Hobbs, and her all-time best came last year at Artesia when she cleared 11 feet.

Parkin also was fifth in the 100 hurdles.

"I was proud of Madi Parkin," Lady Cats coach Darrel Ray said. "She had a big meet. She went to a bigger pole and did a good job."

Parkin, a senior who has committed to Division II Texas-Tyler for next year, is anxious to get a crack at repeating her state title and giving the Lady Cats their third in a row. In 2021, she finished second to teammate Camryn Barros.

"Obviously, I want to win state," Parkin said. "I really want to break the state record (12 feet by Farmington's Kiara Quezada in 2019), but to do that I'll need to get a bigger pole."

Ray opted to pull sophomore sprinter Gabrielle Foggie out of the 200 and 400 and instead try to have her help get the 400 and 800 relays qualified. The 400 relay came in fourth in 50.79 seconds while the 800 relay won in 1:46.38.

"We did what we set out to do," Ray said of the meet. "We're not deep enough to compete with Hobbs and Alamo. We tried to load up in the relays. We feel like we did pretty good in the 4 x 2, and we wanted to run that against Alamo.

"In the 800 (relay), we got a big lead (against Hobbs and Alamo). They came back, but they couldn't catch up."

Some of Portales' athletes were competing for the third time in five days, including the Sepulveda on Monday and Hobbs' Pat Henry qualifier on Tuesday.

Coach Quintin Wilson said it showed.

"We didn't really accomplish what we wanted today," he said. "We were looking at getting some PRs (personal records), and we didn't.

Portales' lone win came in boys javelin, where junior Manny Chavez won but finished several feet shy of his personal best at 161-2 ¾. Sophomore Tommy Lopez finished second at 12 feet and junior Leo Ramirez tied for third at 11-6 in boys pole vault while senior Michael Riess was second in the 800 at 2:00.19.

"Manny)won in javelin, but he didn't throw his best," Wilson said. "Our top kids are just tired. We'll have to pull back a little and let them rest their legs."

Top finishes for the Lady Rams were thirds by Emma Hurren in the 8900 (2:32.09) and Kadynce Reeves in the 400 (1:03.86).

In addition to Smith, Texico got a solid showing in sprints from senior Jahvon Askew, who ran second in the 100 (11.50) and fourth in the 200 (23.54).

Clovis and Portales return to action in Friday's Artesia Invite. The next outing for Texico will be in the EPAC meet on Saturday at Logan.