TRACK TITANS
James Yodice covers Rio West success at city meet, along with other spring sports
It was a huge first day for Rio West athletes at the Richard A. Harper Memorial track and field meet.
Of the 16 field and track finals contested Friday, seven were won by athletes from area schools.
Three different Cleveland girls had event wins. Amanda Mayoral rolled to a victory in the 3,200 meters, Elizabeth Davis won a close competition in the high jump and Caitlin Barnard was spectacular in taking the long jump.
Barnard broke her personal record by 10 inches. That jump last year, 18 feet, ¾-inches, came at the metro championships. She went 18-10¾ Friday. Rio Rancho’s Sierra Delaware was impressive in winning the 800-meter final on Friday, beating Cibola’s Nicole Lawrence by almost a full second.
For the boys, Cibola’s Desmond Carpenter (triple jump) and West Mesa’s Domonic Fischer (high jump) had victories on Friday, as did Volcano Vista’s Blaine Grant in the long jump.
Cibola’s Miles Brinson probably had the best day of any area boy, as he finished runner-up in the triple jump and high jump, and was third in the long jump.
Other runner-up showings for Rio West boys on Friday were: Brendon Armstead of Cleveland in the shot put, Ivan PiñedaDominguez of Volcano Vista in the 3,200 and Daniel Johnson of Cleveland in the long jump.
Similar placings for the girls were Davis of Cleveland in the triple jump, Jaquiline Sanchez of Valley in the shot put, Jezarae Van-Zile of Rio Rancho in the pole vault and Kaylee Caldwell of Cleveland in the long jump.
The meet continues at 9 a.m. today at Albuquerque Academy.
The Marilyn Sepulveda Meet ■ of Champions was Monday at the University of New Mexico complex.
Boys event winners were Josh Foley of Rio Rancho in the 110-meter high hurdles and David Cormier of Volcano Vista in the open 100.
Girls first-place finishers from the area were Haley Rizek of St. Pius (both hurdles), Aphiniti Crupper of Cleveland (100 and 200), Barnard of the Storm (long jump) and Jacque Piñon of St. Pius in the 1,600.
Runner-up placements for the boys were Noah Fay of Rio Rancho in the 110 hurdles, PiñedaDominguez of Volcano Vista in the 1,600 and Danny Russell of Rio Rancho in the 400.
Sarah Mackin of Cleveland finished second to Rizek in both hurdles, with the 300 hurdles especially close. Other runnerup showings were logged by Juanita Johnson of Cibola in the 1,600, Lawrence of Cibola in the 800 and Davis of Cleveland in the triple jump.
Lauren Green of Volcano Vista ■ was third in the 200 and 400 at the Sepulveda; this week she signed a national letter of intent with the University of Nevada. Her Hawks teammate, sprinter Abram Schaap, is signing with BYU.
Metro golf
Desert Greens Golf Course was the site Monday of the Albuquerque Metro Championships.
St. Pius’ girls beat Cleveland for the team title, while the Storm boys were runners-up to La Cueva.
The Sartans, led by junior Ashlee Garrett, shot a round of 344, nine lower than Cleveland.
Garrett was second individually behind Storm sophomore Jacque Galloway, who won the event with a 3-over 75.
Other Rio West girls who finished in the top 10 — and thus earned All-Metro honors — were Cleveland’s Elexiss Gutierrez in third place, St. Pius’ Kori Tellez in fourth, Rio Rancho’s Claire Golder in a tie for fifth, Volcano Vista’s Sabrina Galfano, also in a tie for fifth, and Marisa Gurule of Volcano Vista, Iris Sedillo of Valley and Deane Reaves of Rio Rancho, who all tied for ninth place.
Rio Rancho’s girls placed fourth, with Cibola sixth and Valley seventh.
Cleveland’s boys tied for second with Manzano. Rio Rancho was a close fourth, Volcano Vista placed fifth, St. Pius was eighth.
Ben Wells of Volcano Vista was the runner-up, shooting a round of 74. Others in the top 10 were Cleveland’s Alejandro Armijo and St. Pius’ Aidan Thomas (tied third), and Rio Rancho’s Santiago Almaguer and Wilson Brocktie of Rio Rancho (tied seventh).
Baseball
The prep regular season ends a week from today.
Volcano Vista (12-9, 4-1) leads in District 1-6A as the Hawks take on Cibola today. Also today, Cleveland (18-5 overall and in second place in district at 4-2) faces a tough road trip at third-place Piedra Vista (17-6, 3-2).
Rio Rancho (17-7, 3-3) is in fourth place and not playing today. The Rams suffered a tough 9-3 setback earlier this week to Volcano Vista as the Hawks maintained their lead in 1-6A.
Going into Friday, Valley (138, 4-3) was alone in third place in District 4-6A, two full games behind Atrisco Heritage and Albuquerque High. The Vikings met Rio Grande late Friday.
St. Pius (13-9 overall) met Los ■ Lunas late Friday; the Sartans led District 5-5A at 5-1 and will clinch the regular season if they beat the Tigers.
Bernalillo (13-10, 3-1 in 5-4A) ■ is idle until Tuesday when it visits Sandia Prep. The Sundevils lead that district with a 4-0 record.
Softball
As with baseball, softball is also down to its final week.
District 1-6A remains up in the air. Cibola (12-7, 3-1) and Piedra Vista (12-9, 3-1) are tied for first; the Cougars meet Volcano Vista (9-10, 1-3) today, while the Panthers take on Cleveland (11-10, 2-2) today in Rio Rancho.
Rio Rancho (10-12, 1-3) is off today, but has a key road game Tuesday at Cibola.
West Mesa, with another loss this week to Atrisco Heritage, is out of the hunt to win the District 4-6A title, but the Mustangs (129, 5-2) were tied for second place with Albuquerque High going into a meeting with the Bulldogs on Friday.
Valley and St. Pius are almost certain to miss the upcoming playoffs. Bernalillo, meanwhile, leads District 5-4A going into the final week.
Signings
Northern New Mexico College in Española earlier this week signed three seniors off the Cleveland Storm boys basketball team: guards Marcus Hill and Marquise Hill, plus forward Tyrique Weaver.