Tigers dash for podium
Taos poised to continue unprecedented run of state championship victories
So, what’s the secret to Taos track and field’s consistent success?
Benny Mitchell will never tell. It’s not really much of a secret — just the perfect mix of good coaching, talented athletes and the time-honored tradition of success breeding success. Still, the past six years for the Tigers’ track and field program have been unprecedented. In that time, the girls program brought home a pair of state titles, and the boys are currently on a streak of four consecutive blue trophies.
“I take it just year by year,” said Mitchell, the Tigers head coach. “We train just like any other school and see where we’re at and where our kids are. We’ve just been fortunate to have good running boys and girls athletes.”
Both teams are expected to be contenders yet again for a podium finish when the big-school State Track and Field Championships begin Friday morning at Great Friends of UNM Track Complex. The Taos girls program brings a strong group of distance runners and the multitalented skills of Faith Powell and Abigail Gunther. On the boys side, Taos has perhaps the best athlete in 4A with Jonah Vigil, who is the top seed in the 100, 200 and 400 meters plus the long jump while also expected to be a part of the 1,600 relay squad.
Yet, it’s not a one-man show, as John Olivas will also be a contender for a podium finish in the 100 and 200, plus the high and long jump. Alejandro Salazar is expected to contend in the 400, 300 hurdles, triple jump and 800. The Tigers also have a host of 400 runners who can also medal and provide valuable points toward a fifth 4A title.
And podium finishes (finishing in the top six places) excite the coach in Mitchell.
“If you can make the podium, that’s a plus for us,” Mitchell said. “That’s all we talk about — making the podium.”
If any school benefited the most from the six-classification system, it was Taos. Since 2010, Taos has won state titles in boys and girls cross country, competed for district and state titles in football, baseball and basketball (boys and girls), and even boys golf produced a state champion earlier this week in Josh Fambro.
Mitchell, who was a long-time assistant track coach until taking over for James Branch in 2010, says the success in his program centers around consistency — both in the coaching staff as well as with the athletes who compete under him.
“The big thing is the coaches I have,” Mitchell said. “Ernie Martinez, Nando Chavez, Hilario Serrano, Devette
Sanchez, Janice Medina. We work together and that is the big thing — we talk and collaborate on everything that we do. Even down to the middle schools. And we talk about the kids.”
The past five years with the boys program has been telling in developing consistency. The girls’ championship run in 2013 and ’14 centered around its distance runners with some strong sprinters and jumpers sprinkled into the mix. The boys side benefited from strong 400 runners and jumpers, be it Vigil, Jacob Pacheco, Daniel Isiah Babb or Carlos Ruiz.
Vigil said many of the track athletes start off participating in the sport in middle school just for the fun of it, but when they find an event they like, they set out to work and improve as much as they can once they get to the high-school level.
“You try out an event to see what you’re good at,” Vigil said. “It’s good experience to get before you get to high school.”
Vigil emerged over the past two seasons to become not just one of the best sprinters in 4A, but in the state.
His eye-popping time of 46.99 seconds in the 400 at the Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions, which was good enough for fifth-best in the nation, still brings chills to Vigil. He also finished second in the 200 to Albuquerque Manzano’s Jordan Byrd, a talented athlete in his own right who led the Monarchs to a state football title in December will play the sport at San Diego State University.
“I didn’t see the rankings at first,” Vigil said. “When I saw it, I was like, ‘dang!’ I was surprised.”
Yet, for all of Vigil’s success, Mitchell said the program is bigger than one person, and his athletes have fostered a family atmosphere that doesn’t value one member more than another.
“It’s really the time and commitment these young men and women have put in,” Mitchell said. “It’s just a well-rounded group. This is not a one-woman team or a one-man team. This is a complete team.”
And a state championshipcaliber team at that.