CHS, PHS qualify for state meet

HOBBS – Clovis High had both individual winners and fell short in its bid to sweep both team titles in Saturday’s District 4-5A cross country meet.

Both squads qualified for Class 5A state competition on Saturday at Albuquerque Academy. The 5A girls run at 12:40 p.m., followed by the 5A boys.

Led by sophomore Brooke Newcomer, who paced a 1-2-3 finish with a five-kilometer time of 20 minutes, 29.80 seconds, the Lady Wildcats finished with 24 points to 44 for Hobbs, 74 for Carlsbad and 108 for Roswell High.

CHS coach Liz Ledezma said it rained much of the way on the trip down and back from Hobbs, but during the meet the wind was the big issue.

“It was a little windy, so it makes the times a little shower for everybody,” she said. “Everybody performed pretty much how I expected.”

Freshman Roselia Morales (21.05) and senior Gabby Foggie (21:23.29) were next in line, while the Lady Cats also placed junior Jarelly Navarrete seventh in 22:05.86, freshman Christina Waltrip 11th in 23:19.83, freshman Jelena Maldonado 13th in 23:36.39, senior Kira Tree 17th in 23:53.99; junior Joselyn Foggie 18th in 23:56.47 and sophomore Yocelyn Romero 29th in 29:09.70.

Senior Sammy Fuentes took boys individual honors for the Wildcats, posting a 5K time of 16:44.21. Other CHS performances included senior Victor Sanchez, eighth in 17:59.58; freshman Adrian Surita, ninth in 18:10.77; freshman Marques Lippman, 10th in 18:12.77; senior Martin Perez, 14th in 18:20.67; freshman Ryder Bonney, 16th in 18:22.80; senior Rudy Ledezma, 22nd in 19:24.80; freshman Connor McQuiggan, 23rd in 19:33.27, and junior Santiago Verdugo, 24th in 19:36.89.

The competition at state should be somewhat similar to the Albuquerque Academy Extravaganza, a meet Clovis participated in on October 19.

“Hopefully, that (competition) will help us get a little higher finish (this weekend,” Ledezma said.

District 4-4A – Portales High’s boys, who didn’t have anyone competing for much of the season, threw together a squad in the late going. On Friday, the Rams finished third in four-team District 4-4A, trailing Artesia (22) and Lovington (46) while placing ahead of Roswell Goddard (106).

Meantime, the district had only two full girls squads, with Artesia winning it with a perfect score of 15 and PHS second at 45.

Both PHS squads will run in Saturday’s Class 4A state meet at Academy. The girls run the first of the day’s eight races at 9 a.m., while the 4A boys follow at 9:45 a.m.

“Our (teams) did very well overall,” coach Melissa Lee said. “We had two boys finish in the top 10 as well as two girls. I’m looking forward to watching (them) compete on Saturday.”

Sophomore Leo Cordova posted the time time for the PHS boys at 18:20 over the 5K run. Meantime, senior Allister McCasland was eighth in 19:22, senior Thomas Villalobos placed 16th in 21:11, eighth-grader Kingston Lee came in 19th in 21:46 and senior Alan Sarinana was 21st in 22:22.

For the Lady Rams, junior Miriam Caudillo was eighth in 24:01, freshman Brianna Aguilar placed ninth in 25:09, junior Azlan Smith came in 12th in 25:54, freshman Kloe Ruiz placed 14th in 27:54, sophomore Samanta Trevizo notched 18th in 29:25, and junior Emily Bustamante took 19th in 32:05.

Individual winners were Lovington junior Ethan Castellanos (16:23) for the boys and Artesia senior Makaylee Morillon (20:09) for the girls.