Byrd sets meet records in 100, 200
Manzano star wows crowd at Academy
Talk about an appetizer! It is rare that the signature moment of the first day of a twoday track and field meet occurs in a prelim, but that is precisely what happened Friday at the Richard A. Harper Memorial event at Albuquerque Academy.
With all of the day’s 16 finals done, the only bits of business remaining by late in the afternoon were running prelims.
And a huge number of athletes lined the ropes to watch the first gathering this year of Jordan Byrd, David Cormier and O’maury Samuels.
They were together in the last heat of the 100-meter dash — and Byrd had the crowd buzzing.
The Manzano junior blazed to a meet record 10.55 seconds, which was impressive enough. But the two-time defending Class 6A state champion in the 100 managed something even more astounding: he made Los Lunas’ Samuels (second in 10.90) and Volcano Vista’s Cormier (fourth in 10.99) look downright lead-footed by comparison.
The best news of all? That trio will be back this morning for the 100-meter final at 10:20 a.m. And Byrd later Friday also set a meet record in the 200, finishing in 21.30 seconds in the prelims.
Academy’s boys and Cleveland’s girls have the first-day lead. (For team/individual results from Friday, see page D4.)
Neither Amanda Mayoral of Cleveland nor Jordan Lesansee of Academy competed in the 3,200-meter earlier this week at the Sepulveda Meet of Champions. Both looked rested and motivated and coasted to convincing victories Friday.
Mayoral blitzed her rivals, finishing in 11 minutes, 22.98 seconds. She won by 14 seconds.
“From now on,” said Mayoral, a junior, “I’m just focused on running against the clock and getting those times down.”
Lesansee, a senior in the last big meet on his home campus, breezed to a victory in 9:35.66.
“The 32 is my favorite event, and I just wanted to finish strong,” said Lesansee, who is down to Air Force or Stanford for his college choice, and he is spending next weekend in California to visit the Cardinal campus. “It’s great to be here in front of the home crowd. There’s nothing like that.”
Jackson Morris of Academy won the discus; his throw, 169 feet, 8 inches, was less than his personal record of 180 feet that he recorded Monday at the Sepulveda, but Friday there was a strong tailwind which was knocking throws down, Morris said.
Cleveland’s Caitlin Barnard set a personal record in the girls long jump, sailing 18 feet, 10¾ inches. That was 10 inches beyond her previous best.
“I was feeling it,” a smiling Barnard said. “I told my coaches today that I was gonna jump 18 (feet).”
West Mesa rarely makes noise at a track meet, but Domonic Fischer won the boys high jump, an event in which he excels.
“It’s awesome,” Fischer said. “Especially coming from West Mesa, where we’re not known for coming out and winning anything.”
Cibola’s Desmond Carpenter, a New Mexico Highlands basketball signee, had never done track and field until this year. You’d never know he was a rookie by his results. He finished first Friday with 44 feet, 6¾ inches in the triple jump.
“I’m just doing it to stay in shape for basketball,” Carpenter said. “They asked me what I wanted to do, and they thought I would be good at jumping.”
Other metro-area boys to win events Friday included Sandia’s Ben Bertram in the shot put, Academy’s Aric Kedge with a strong second lap in the 800, and Volcano Vista’s Blaine Grant in the long jump.
Other metro girls with wins were Sandia Prep’s Morgan Crotta in the pole vault, Rio Rancho’s Sierra Delaware in the 800 and Cleveland’s Elizabeth Davis in the high jump.
The meet continues today with the javelin at 9 a.m., and the remainder of the running finals beginning at 9:45.