Lady Rams set several personal bests at Artesia

ARTESIA – Portales High’s girls notched several season bests on Saturday en route to a second-place team finish in the Artesia Invite track meet.

Artesia ran away with both divisions of the 10-school meet, compiling 164 points to 66 for runnerup Lovington on the boys side while the Lady Bulldogs finished with 133 to 68 for PHS.

Portales was seventh in boys competition with 26 points.

The Lady Rams got individual wins from senior Olivia Low (120 feet, 7 inches) in discus and junior Kadynce Reeves in pole vault (9-6). Low, who was also second in shot put (a season-best 33-10) and sixth in javelin (95-8), surpassed her previous best mark this spring in discus by nearly eight feet.

Portales also had a strong showing in relays, winning the 1,600 event in a season-best time of 4 minutes, 12.28 seconds with seniors Alondra Acosta, Abby Ontiveros and Audrey Paden and Reeves, and finishing third or better in three others. Paden ran second in the 400 in 1:01.58 while sophomore Skyler Massey tied for second in high jump at 4-10, both season bests.

On the boys’ side, the only event where the Rams finished in the top two was in pole vault, with junior Tommy Lopez wining at 11 feet. PHS notched three third-place finishes, all in season bests, with junior Gideon Smith throwing 136-6 in javelin, junior Manny Chavez taking third in the 110 hurdles in 15.59 seconds and the 1,600 relay team of juniors Anthony Cordova and Allister McCasland, senor Toby Standifer and Chavez running a time of 3:37.72.

Portales finishes the regular season on Friday in the Ross Black Relays in Lovington. The Rams and Lady Rams will host District 4-4A competition on May 10 at Greyhound Stadium.

Cats, Lady Cats place sixth at Alamo – Clovis High’s track squads finished sixth in Friday’s Bob Sepulveda Invite, hosted by Artesia.

Centennial edged Hobbs 93-92 for the boys’ team title, while Organ Mountain took girls honors with 109 points to 70 ½ for Hobbs. The Lady Cats scored 49 points – one behind Alamo – while the Wildcats came in with 34 points in the 12-school competition.

The Lady Cats posted a win in the 800 relay with juniors Gabrielle Foggie and Karen Alvarez, freshman Skye Karoki and senior Mackenzie Roach running a season-best 1:46.86. They were also second in the 400 relay (a season-best 50.16) and third in the 1,600 relay (4:17.27).

They posted three individual second-place finishes with Nevaeh Barros in pole vault (9-0), junior Amanda De La Rosa in javelin (110-4) and freshman Brooke Newcomer in the 3,200 (12:31.06), all season bests.

The top finish for the boys was a second-place effort by senior Jeremiah Johnson in shot put (46-7), with fellow senior Aiden Brown coming in third at 46-5 ½.

The Cats and Lady Cats also complete their regular campaign on Friday in Lovington. District 4-5A competition will be hosted by Roswell High on May 10.