Lady Cats earn team victory in Lovington meet
May 7—LOVINGTON — Clovis High's girls earned 1-2 finishes from freshmen in both the 1,600 and the 300 hurdles on Friday to claim team honors in Lovington's Ross Black Relays, which concluded the regular season.
The Lady Wildcats posted 118 points in the six-school event to outlast Carlsbad (106) and Portales High (95), followed by Roswell High (63), Roswell Goddard (56) and Lovington (26). Team scores were not provided by Lovington on New Mexico MileSplit and were unofficial.
Lovington captured the boys team title, finishing with 112 points to 94 1/2 for Roswell High and 87 1/2 for the Wildcats. Rounding out the field were Carlsbad (74 1/2 ), Portales (48 1/2 ) and Goddard (42).
"It was a good day for us," CHS girls coach Avery Rasher said. "The girls worked really hard."
Rosalia Morales (6 minutes, 10.29 seconds) and Brooke Newcomer (6:12.64) took the top two spots in the 1,600, as did Skye Karoki (51.19 seconds) and Nyeisha Dean (55.34) in the 300 hurdles.
The Lady Cats didn't pick up any additional qualifiers for Class 5A state competition later this month in Albuquerque, but they had several season bests. Among them were junior Amanda De La Rosa in javelin (121 feet, 9 1/2 inches) and eighth-grader Nevaeh Barros in pole vault (9-6).
The Lady Cats also won the 400 and 3,200 relays.
"All the kids we asked to step into different roles did that," Rasher said.
The Lady Rams won the 800 (1:50.46) and 1,600 (4:10.69) relays, while junior Kadynce Reeves went a season-best 10 feet to take pole vault competition. Senior Olivia Low had another solid day in the throws, winning discus (111-8), coming in second in shot put (33-9) and finishing fourth in javelin (103-5).
"Kaydence had two really good looks at 10-4," PHS coach Quintin Wilson said of pole vault.
On the boys' side, Clovis ran season bests in winning the 400 (43.04) and 1,600 medley (3:39.38) relays. Sophomore Jaydin Fenstermaker in pole vault (11-6, tying a season best set at the Wildcat Relays last month) and senior Aiden Brown in shot put (47-3) added first-place finishes for the Cats.
"Overall, we were pretty successful," CHS boys coach Mark Sena said. "We had a lot of season bests out of the kids, especially the younger kids."
Sena is hopeful Fenstermaker can qualify for the 5A state competition in Friday's District 4-5A meet at Roswell High — either by placing in the top two or, preferably, by clearing the 12-foot barrier.
"He's just a tiny bit off from getting 12 (feet) and qualifying for state," Sena said.
PHS qualified its 3,200 relay team for Class 4A state competition with a time of 8:51.95, more than four seconds better than its previous best.
Wilson said he teamed juniors Allister McCasland, Jacob Valencia and Anthony Cordova, all sprinters, with freshman Leon Cordova, the only true half-miler.
"I told those guys, 'This is what you've got to do,' and they went out and delivered," Wilson said. "Those guys have never run an 800 before."
Senior Manny Chavez gave the Rams three first-place finishes, although he struggled in javelin while coming off an arm injury. Still, he won it at 155-1 — 1 1/2 inches ahead of CHS senior Kohen Matus' season-best 154-11 1/2 — while adding wins in the 110 (15.48) and 300 (a season-best 42.59) hurdles.
Chavez is the defending 4A state champion in javelin, and has also qualified in the 110 hurdles.
PHS is slated to host the District 4-4A meet at Greyhound on Friday, starting at 3 p.m.
