Several Northern New Mexico athletes take home medals
Several Northern New Mexico athletes overcome challenges to win medals
Ayear ago, they were at a crossroads in their track careers.
On Friday, they called themselves state champions.
The quartet of Lucas McNatt, Arjay Ortiz, Faith Powell and Elizabeth Reyes knew something had to change if they were to take that all-important next step. Whether it was a crisis of confidence (McNatt, Powell), a question of passion (Ortiz) or the willingness to endure the pain (Reyes), they all had obstacles to overcome before walking up to the top stoop of the state track and field podium.
McNatt walked away from the high jump after competing in it for the past two years, only to volunteer his way back into the event for the Capital Jaguars when the coaching staff asked for someone to jump. In just three weeks, McNatt exceeded all expectations by winning the Class 5A high jump at the big school state track and field championships with a height of 6 feet and winning the tiebreaker against three other jumpers.
Because McNatt cleared the height in his first try, while the other three — Roswell’s Jasia Reese, Albuquerque St. Pius X’s Nikulas Skipp and Artesia’s Eric Cueto — needed more tries, he had the tiebreaker when none of them could jump 6-2.
McNatt, the 5-foot-10, 165-pound junior, jumped up and down as he headed toward Capital assistant coach Zeke Villegas and gave him a huge hug, swinging him around in the process.
“I did it [the high jump] the last two years, but I didn’t see any improvement from the year after,” McNatt said. “I didn’t think I would be any good at all. I didn’t think I would come close to qualifying at all. … I missed it too much. I just missed it too much, it didn’t matter if I won or lost.”
McNatt almost was a spectator for the state meet, needing his third jump at 5-10 during last week’s District 2-5A meet to clear that height and continue in the event. He then jumped 6-0 in his first try — just like Friday — to qualify for state on height.
“The district meet was exactly like [Friday’s event],”
McNatt said. “I hit [the bar at 5-10] twice, I was on my final jump and I was freaking out. But I just went up and did it. Then I hit 6-foot right away. I could have hit 6-2 on that jump. It was crazy.”
There was no déjà vu for Ortiz. Actually, he was indifferent toward track and field for the first two years he competed for Las Vegas Robertson, even though he finished fifth in the 4A high jump last year. His sports were football and basketball, and was the starting quarterback/safety and guard for the Cardinals. Track and field just didn’t interest him.
“I didn’t want to be out here,” the junior said. “I was having a bad attitude.”
So, Ortiz worked on his attitude and came in tied for the top seed with Taos’ John Olivas. Olivas, though, topped out at 5-8 and took fifth. Ortiz kept going and cleared 6-2 on his first try to best Bernalillo’s Davin Deuel for the top spot. Ortiz tried to set a personal mark by going for 6-6, but came up short.
“I got 6-4 last week at districts,” Ortiz said. “I wanted to get my [personal record] right away.”
Taos’ Faith Powell also was chasing a personal record as she was tired of long jumping in the 16-foot range. Powell is a 4A high-jump champion, but she came into the long jump with a 16-10½ mark that seeded her third.
She didn’t even break 16 feet with her first jump and second jump, then came her third attempt. Powell skipped the 16 range and jumped 17-2. In the finals, she upped her jump to 17-8 to win the event by 10½ inches over Ruidoso’s Morgan Johnson.
“I think it was more of a mental thing and everything clicked as far as what I needed to do,” said Powell, a sophomore. “I just went and did it.”
Taos could have had a matching boys long jump champion, but Jonah Vigil was one-upped by Moriarty’s Marvin Encinias. The Pintos junior’s 22-0 jump was a half-inch farther than Vigil, who came in as the defending champion.
While the Taos boys are chasing their fourth straight team title, the girls are trying to reclaim the top spot they owned in 2013 and 2014. The Lady Tigers will enter the final day of the meet in the lead with 19 points, thanks to wins from
Powell and the trio of podium finishers for the 3,200.
Leading the way was senior Elizabeth Reyes, who pulled away from the pack in the third lap and cruised to the 3,200 win — her first in track and field. She was followed by eighth-grader
Ella Katz, who took fourth and junior Cora Cannedy took fifth. A year after finishing third in the 3,200, Reyes said she had to push past the physical and mental pain the eight-lap race places on runners.
“My coach always tells me, ‘You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable,’ ” Reyes said. “That’s something I’ve had to learn. That’s been hard, but I’ve learned to push past the pain, because the pain is only temporary.”
Meanwhile, Los Alamos’ Liam Johnson completed his Hilltoppers career with a win in the pole vault by clearing 15 feet. He tied with Alamogordo’s Colten Dean, but Johnson cleared 14-6 in fewer tries to secure the individual crown.
Rhianna Varela didn’t find herself atop the podium, but the Santa Fe High freshman found a spot on it for the first time. She broke into the 17-foot realm in the long jump, and her personal best of 17-2¼ placed her sixth in the 6A event.
Varela, whose forte is the triple jump, slowly made her way up the qualifying board as the season progressed and was at 16-9½ entering the meet, which was 13th best among all jumpers. Varela had a breakthrough with a 17-1 on her first jump, then added her best jump in the finals to get within 2½ inches of Sandia’s Kaelyn Fenstermach for fifth.
Varela said she jumped in the 17-feet range in practice, but the hard part is applying what she did in practice at a meet.
“You do got to put in the work in practice, but it’s a mental thing,” Varela said. “It’s just mental toughness. I came in here [on Friday] with confidence and I went further.”
Varela is barely on the path that can lead her to a state championship, but she’s learning quickly what it takes to get there.
Los Liam Alamos’ Johnson completed his Hilltoppers career with a win in the pole vault by clearing 15 feet. He tied with Alamogordo’s Colten Dean, but Johnson cleared 14-6 in fewer tries to secure the individual crown.