Winners from the 2A track and field states
The Peñasco Panthers and Questa Wildcats traveled to the UNM Track-Soccer complex in Albuquerque to compete in the NMAA 2022 State Track and Field Championships on Friday (May 6) for preliminaries and on Saturday (May 7) for the finals.
Neither Peñasco nor Questa succeeded in cracking the top five teams in the overall boys team ranking and the overall girls team ranking, but there were some stellar performances on the part of individuals from each team.
The Peñasco boys and the Peñasco girls finished in seventh place. The Questa girls finished in eighth place. The Questa boys came in last, registering only one point in the competition.
Peñasco did excel in the long distance races. Peñasco eighthgrader Rochelle Lopez, as the fifth seeded racer, ran a solid race to claim gold in the 3200-meter race. Teammate Charnelle Gonzalez finished fourth.
When it comes to boys long distance races in the 2A class, it’s Gilly Valdez’s world out there, and every other athlete is just living in it. Valdez took home the gold in the 800-meter race (2:01.42), 1600-meter race (4:34.02), 3200meter race (10:40.40). With the exception of the 3200-meter race, Valdez improved on his seed time in states. There was a slight
improvement of about 2 seconds in the 800-meter race from 2:03.07 to 2:01.42. The greatest improvement
was in the 3200-meter race, over 10 seconds of time reduction, from 4:47.25 to 4:34.02.
Questa dominated the girls pole vaulting event. Three Lady Wildcats placed within the top four, and Alianna Gonzalez took first place. Eighth grader Alyse Lovato did well to hang in there with the best seniors and juniors of the competition. In the high jump, long jump and triple jump, Lovato stood alone as the only eighth grader, and there were only two freshmen who competed. Lovato has a bright track career ahead of her as she was able to take the silver in the triple jump (33’) and fourth in the long jump (15’9”). Marcos Gonzalez nabbed the single point for the Questa boys by placing sixth in the triple jump (37’11.5”).
Team rankings–girls
FIRST PLACE: Academy for Technology and the Classics 66 pts SECOND PLACE: Rehoboth Christian 58 pts
THIRD PLACE: Capitan 48.5 pts FOURTH PLACE: Santa Rosa 37 pts Team rankings–boys FIRST PLACE: Hagermen High School 112 pts
SECOND PLACE: Pecos High School 46 pts
THIRD PLACE: Santa Rosa High School 30 pts
THIRD PLACE: Melrose High School 30 pts
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS IN WHICH PEÑASCO OR QUESTA PLACED WITHIN THE TOP FOUR
Girls 1600-meter race FIRST PLACE: Josette Gurule (ATC) 5:39.51
SECOND PLACE: Rochelle Lopez (Peñasco) 5:54.44
THIRD PLACE Emily Garcia (Rehoboth Christian) 5:55.12 FOURTH PLACE: Emily Rios (Loving High School) 5:56.37
Girls 3200-meter race FIRST PLACE: Rochelle Lopez (Peñasco) 12:46.93
SECOND PLACE: Josette Gurule (ATC) 12:57.60
THIRD PLACE: Anica Lucero (Santa Rosa) 13:21.42
FOURTH PLACE: Charnelle Gonzalez (Peñasco) 13.34.60
Girls Relay 4 x 800-meter relay
FIRST PLACE: Capitan 10:57.59 SECOND PLACE: Peñasco 11:12.94 THIRD PLACE: Santa Rosa 11:18.48Fourth place: Escalante 12:06.73
Pole vault
FIRST PLACE: Alianna Gonzalez (Questa) 8’
SECOND PLACE: Alexa Kahlich (Capitan) 7’
THIRD PLACE: Karina Rael (Questa) 7’
FOURTH PLACE: Ariana Medina (Questa) 6’6”
Girls long jump
FIRST PLACE: Savanna Ortiz (Pecos) 16’6”
SECOND PLACE: Sierra Velarde (Mora) 16’3”
THIRD PLACE: Brooklyn Rodriguez (Loving) 15’9”
FOURTH PLACE: Alyse Lovato (Questa) 15’9”
Girls triple jump
FIRST PLACE: Alicia Jacquez (Lordsburg) 33’5”
SECOND PLACE: Alyse Lovato (Questa) 33’
THIRD PLACE: Maycee Griffin (Tularosa) 32’11”
FOURTH PLACE: Haileigh Brown (Capitan) 32’7”