Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Tigers win both team points titles at Invite

First event at LLHS since 2006 season

Duane Barbati News-Bulletin Staff Writer; dbarbati@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas The Los Lunas Track and Field Invite had a triple jumper and a 1600-meter runner make state qualifying marks on Saturday.

Talib Abdul-Hakeem of Los Lunas qualified with a 43 feet, 3.3 inches in the triple jump field event while Belen had Josh Garcia qualified in the 1600-meter with a 4 minute, 38 second time.

Los Lunas high jumper Lesly Torres cleared 5 feet, 3 inches Saturday. Torres had a state qualifying 5 feet, 4-inch mark in the high jump at the APS Kick-Off Invite on March 8.

The Class 5A Tigers finished first on both sides with a boys team score of 166 and 171 on the girls sidee, while the Clas 4A Belen boys had 139 and the girls 122.

"They did great," said LLHS girls coach Larry Padilla about the invite. "What was nice was we had people score in just about every event. It was nice because it showed the team effort and talent of the team as a whole."

The Lady Tigers took first place in the 4 -by-400 meter relay, 4-by-100 meter relay and the medley relay. Chelsea Wayne took first place for Los Lunas in the 1600 meters. Tigers Adrianna Delgado had first places in the 400 meters and long jump events. Lesly Torres was first in the 300-meter hurdles and triple jump.

Bailey Emond took first in the shot put, while Hannah Faknoury was first in the pole vault.

The Lady Eagles' Aleona Reyes had a first place finish in the 800 meters; Amanda Baca was first in the 200 meters and Cheyanne Boggus in the 3200. Kelli Williams took first and Brittany Meister was second in the 100-meter hurdles, but Williams missed qualifying for state by half a second.

"Aleona missed qualifying for state by three and a half seconds (in the 800 meters)," said BHS coach Jim Edwards. "We have some good things going and make sure they keep going."

Valencia High School's girls team scored seven points at the invite.

Five teams competed at the invite, including Class 4A BHS, 5A LLHS, 4A Valencia, and two other 4A squads, Española Valley and Silver.

It was the first event hosted by LLHS in two years. Rennovations to Wille Chavez Field kept the stadium from being used for meets in the spring of 2007, so Saturday was the first competitive use of the new track surface.

Los Lunas boys had top finishes in the 800 and 400 relay races. Mike Contratto was first in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles. Zac Hendrix had first place in the discus and shot put. Jeremy Smith threw for first place in the javelin event.

"Overall, the team did well," said LLHS boys coach Denvis Manns. "The guys ran, threw and jumped well. I am pretty happy with the results. We always have room for improvement."

Belen had first place finish in the 4-by-100 meter relay, and Dylan Barba took first in the 200 meters. Ethan Durbin took first in the 400 meters, but missed qualifying for state by 3 tenths of a second. Orlando Castillo took first place in the high jump at 5 feet,11 inches, but he missed when attempting to jump a potential state-qualifying height of 6 feet, 1 inch.

"We competed," said Edwards. "We're a lot better team then we showed. We have a lot of details to work on. That's what's going to make us a better team."

The Valencia High boys team placed fourth at the meet with a team score of 25, beating Española Valley. The Jaguars took first place in the medley relay and second in the 4-by-200 meter relay.

The Jim Burke Invitational, hosted by Belen, is scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. for field events and 12:30 p.m. for running events. Los Lunas and Valencia will compete at the invitational along with 17 to 18 other teams.

"I am looking forward to it and having fun," said Edwards about the invitational. "I'm looking for improvement on a weekly basis."

Tigers coach Padilla said he is a little concerned about the Burke Invitational being held on Good Friday.

"A few kids will be missing because of spring break," he said.

Manns said he thinks the Tiger boys team will have a strong performance at the Burke Invitational, despite it being spring break.

"Some boys distance runners will be out," he said. "Our other guys will step up to the challenge. We want to improve on our times at the meet. Overall we'll be OK. I think it will go well."

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