Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CHS sophomore Brooke Newcomer led a strong contingent of Lady Wildcats, including freshman Rosalia Morales and junior Jarelly Navarrete. Newcomer won the event in a time of 21 minutes, 41.56 seconds as both Clovis squads captured team titles.
Sammy Fuentes won, but to him it sure didn't feel like it.
The Clovis High senior was awarded first place in Saturday's season-opening Clovis Invitational cross country meet at Ned Houk Park after Lovington junior Ethan Castellanos, who had a healthy lead at the time, was disqualified for cutting the course.
"I feel like it didn't go good at all," said Fuentes, who was clocked in a time of 17 minutes, 31.11 seconds over the five-kilometer course. "The other guy (Castellanos) was in better shape than me. He was just better than me, for sure."
The Wildcats claimed four of the top six spots and put all seven runners in the top 16 in the small meet. They finished with 26 team points to 44 for Hereford, 60 for Tucumcari and 104 for San Jon.
Meantime, the Lady Wildcats outlasted Hereford for team honors on the girls side, finishing with 24 points to 33 for the Lady Whitefaces and 83 for Tucumcari.
Sophomore Brooke Newcomer ran away with the girls race, posting a time of 21:41.56 to lead a 1-2-4-5 Clovis finish.
Newcomer also wasn't pleased with her time, though she was never challenged in the race.
"My time was a little off, but I was happy to win," she said. "I could've gone faster in the first mile, but the hills kind of slowed me down.
"My goal is to get top five in all of my meets. I want to get my time down to 19 minutes or less."
CHS coach Liz Ledesma said her runners did well overall.
"They're hard on themselves," she said. "The first meet is usually the slowest meet of the season, so I'm not concerned."
Freshman Adrian Surita finished second for the CHS boys in 19:21.0, while freshman Ryder Bonney was fifth (19:39.78), freshman Marques Lippman sixth (19:46.96), junior Santiago Verdugo 11th (21:00.16), senior Rudy Ledesma 12th (21.03.31) and junior Angel Diaz 16th (22:50.03).
"Our team is getting better," Fuentes said. "We have a lot of young guys, but we're starting to get the depth we need."
Behind Newcomer for the girls were freshman Roselia Morales (22:58.10), senior Kira Tree (23.40.90) and junior Jarelly Navarrete (23:56.63). Rounding out the lineup were senior Yocelyn Romero, 12th in 30:55.63; senior Liberty Kinkade; 14th in 34:49.12, and xxx Maribel Maes, 15th in 35:07.00.
Clovis' next outing is in the Lovington Invitational on September 7.
