Nora, Parkin solid for CHS

ALBUQUERQUE – Clovis High senior R.J. Nora was hoping for a big Saturday in this weekend's Class 5A state track meet at the University of New Mexico track facility.

Nora won his heats in the Class 5A boys 110 and 300 hurdles races on Friday, and went into Day 2 hoping to sweep those events. He also participated in triple jump on Saturday morning and helped get two Wildcats relays into Saturday's finals.

The Cats earned three points on Friday – senior Jeremiah Johnson placed fifth in shot put, going 48 feet, 6 inches, while sophomore Sammy Fuentes claimed sixth place in the 1,600 run in a time of 4 minutes, 30.68 seconds. Nora & Co. were hoping to slide up the ladder in the standings on Saturday after finishing the first day tied for 12th place with Mayfield.

The CHS girls got a repeat win in 5A pole vault from senior Madison Parkin, who cleared 11 feet. Her seven points had the Lady Wildcats in an opening-day, four-way tie for seventh place.

Meantime, Portales' boys notched fourth-place efforts from senior Michael Riess in the 1,600 and sophomore Tommy Lopez in pole vault, leaving the Rams 10th in Class 4A with six points, while the Lady Rams got a second-place effort from junior Olivia Low in discus and shared sixth place with Grants at five points apiece.

All four local teams had hopes of good things ahead in Saturday's action, especially with Nora, who was looking to contend for individual high point honors with a good final day.

"He did enough to win," Cats coach Mark Sena said of the 300 hurdles prelims. "He just tried to get through the race and see what happens."

Nora posted the top overall time in the 110 hurdles (14.69) and the second-best time in the 300 hurdles (39.65), just behind Rio Rancho Cleveland senior Elijah Griego (39.61).

"We have some chances to make headway and score some points," Sena said. "Hopefully, we can take advantage of those chances."

Fuentes was scheduled to anchor the Cats' 1,600 medley relay, one of four that qualified for the finals. He was likely to pass on the 800 and 3,200, Sena said, mainly because they're a little close to the medley, which posted Friday's second-best time in 5A at 3:39.37.

"The open 800 is a little too fast to be assured of anything," Sena said.

For the girls, Parkin started a bit slow in pole vault, missing her first attempts at both 9 feet and 9-6 before clearing. She then went over the next three heights without a miss to win It before going out on 11-4, two inches above her personal best.

"She did a good job," CHS girls coach Darrel Ray said. "She had a couple of misses early, and she was behind (Eldorado freshman Kaili Roosild) until they got to 10-6."

Sophomore Gabrielle Foggie posted the top time in the 400 with a personal-best 57.93, nearly a second in front of Sandia freshman Emma Babb (58.87).

"She looked good today," Ray said. "I think she'll be fine. I think it'll be difficult for anyone to beat her."

The Lady Cats qualified three relays for the finals, and were also slated to have several other individual events going.

Perhaps the highlight of the first day for PHS was Lowe's effort in discus. Although her mark of 103-11 was short of her PR, it was good enough to edge out several others behind winner Alexys Salas of Silver, who won easily at 125-2.

"She was seeded about seventh or eighth going in," PHS coach Quintin Wilson said of Low. "For her to get second place for us, that was huge."

Low was slated for shot put competition on Saturday, one of a number of events for the Rams and Lady Rams. Junior Manny Chavez held the No. 1 seed in 4A boys javelin going into Saturday morning's competition.

Riess ran a 1,600 time of 4:29.97, while Lopez cleared 12 feet in pole vault competition.

"We performed about as well as we have all year long," Wilson said. "You always hope to do a little better, but we're excited about where we are."

The girls qualified four relays for Saturday, posting the second-best overall time in the 1,600 relay (4:12.24), behind Silver (4:11.12). Riess was scheduled for the 800 on Saturday and was also set to anchor the boys' medley relay.