Tigers represent in triple jump and relays
On Saturday morning (May 14) at the UNM Track & Field-Soccer complex, before the sun blasted rays on the athletes competing in the running events, the triple jump was underway.
A common theme among the competitors that didn’t make it to the finals of the triple jump was the inability to land in the sandpit from the placement of the board. At one point, Bernalillo Spartan Tristen Ludi-Herrera landed awkwardly and shouted an expletive either out of frustration or bodily injury. He held his hamstring for a while as his coach came out to check on him. No sympathy was given to Ludi-Herrera as he was disqualified for language.
The 5A triple jump was taking place in the adjacent sandpit. An animated coach kept imploring Clovis Wildcat Robert Nora to give it his all: “Energy!” “Speed!” “Let’s go!”
Nora only lost to a 5A-recordsetting performance by Kayden Gonzalez of Farmington (47–0.25). The previous record was set by Kale Brown of Albuquerque Academy in 2013 (46-11).
Marcus Trujillo, one of three Taos Tigers contending in the boys 4A triple jump, entered the event with the second-best distance at 44-10¼. Max Chandler of Albuquerque Academy had the best seed with a distance of 45-7 before the finals. Chandler lived up to the expectations by winning first place with a distance of 43-7. His teammate, Kane Demers, was right behind him getting second place with a distance of 42-2.
Trujillo slightly underperformed compared to his seed but still earned a fifth-place finish. Favian Cordova earned a third-place
finish with a distance of 41-11, improving on his seed of 41-03. Xavier Duke got into the fray with a sixth-place finish. The Taos Tigers took three out of the top six places in the triple jump, good enough to grab seven points total from the event.
Sophomore Korlan Gibson was the odd man out but he’ll have more chances ahead to win a medal in the triple jump. Gibson’s seed for the event would have been good enough for fifth place.
The next event was the girls 4 x 800 relay race. The relay team consisted of Jade Mares, Elaina Cisneros, Jacqueline Limas and Zoe
Torres. The first and second tier of runners was decided in the first two laps. Albuquerque Academy, Belen and Los Alamos were jostling for the top three spots. Taos, Highland and St. Pius were battling for fourth, fifth and sixth place.
Albuquerque Academy built a huge lead, but Los Alamos and Belen caught up by the time Luna Romero handed off the baton to Addison Julian. It was a sprint to the finish line in the final 100 meters, and Los Alamos pulled through for the first-place finish. They each broke the previous state record set by Albuquerque Academy in 2021 (10:26). The Lady Tigers finished sixth in the event.
The Taos Tigers relay team consisting of Cordova, Noah Washington, Yovani-Urbano Varela and anchor Matthew Mondragon (and Ben Hasting replacing Washington in the 4 x 400), has consistently smoked the competition at track meets this season and held their own against the Los Alamos Hilltoppers, who were heavily favored to win the sprinting events.
Taos were runner-ups in the 4 x 100-meter relay and the 4 x 400meter relay. They earned a thirdplace finish in the 4 x 200-meter relay.
With a small pool of athletes to choose from the Tigers showed up and showed out at the triple jump and the relays, taking fourth (out of 22) overall in men’s 4A as a team. According to coach Benny Mitchell, “they ran lights out.” Men’s teams rankings in 4A FIRST PLACE: Los Alamos 115 points SECOND PLACE: Albuquerque Academy 97 points
THIRD PLACE: Hope Christian 66 points
FOURTH PLACE: Taos 31 points Women’s team rankings in 4A FIRST PLACE: Los Alamos 165 points SECOND PLACE: Albuquerque Academy 63 points
THIRD PLACE: Hope Christian 40.5 points
FOURTH PLACE: Artesia 40 points
The Lady Tigers finished 19th with two points. Those points came from the efforts of Taylor Donalson in the 300-meter hurdles (49.87) and the girls relay team in the 4 x 800 relay (10:37). The relay team’s seed heading into the race was (11:11.77).