ATC, Santa Fe Prep have strong showings at Indian School meet
The pole vault belonged to Lilia Noger-Onstott on Thursday.
It helped that the senior on the Academy for Technology and the Classics track and field team was the only competitor in the event, but Noger-Onstott likely would have won it anyway if anyone at the ATC quadrangular meet at Santa Fe Indian School athletic complex wanted to challenge her.
She entered the meet with the fourth-best height in Class 3A at 8 feet, which she set at the Bernalillo Invitational on March 10, but NogerOnstott wasn’t focused so much on the competition as she was on herself.
“I’ve just been trying to compete against myself,” Noger-Onstott said. “With pole vault, it feels as though I’m in the same place every year, and I’m just trying to get better.”
Noger-Onstott got better, as she cleared 8-6 on her second attempt to tie her personal best. Her performance was a part of a strong day in the event for ATC, which saw fellow senior Jacob Padilla qualify on the boys side by clearing 10-6 to win the event. What offers Noger-Onstott encouragement is that she reached that height much earlier than she did last year. With the state meet six weeks away, it gives her plenty of time to work her way toward the 9-foot barrier — and beyond.
However, ATC head coach Tim Host didn’t want to waste time going for 9 feet, encouraging Noger-Onstott to try it instead of 8-6 after she cleared 8-0.
“I didn’t want to go from 8 [feet] to 9 because I have never done 9 before,” Noger-Onstott said. “I’ve barely gotten 8-6 before, so I was just wanting to make sure I could do it. I think a foot is quite a larger distance. Even when you move it up 6 inches, it goes to your head. Pole vault, it’s a really mental sport.”
Host knows exactly what Noger-Onstott was alluding to, but he also knows that she is capable of breaking past the mental hurdle of clearing a higher height.
“The positive for her is that she is at 8-6 already,” Host said. “That’s the best she’s ever done and she’s doing it sooner than she’s ever done it before. And pole vault is one of those events where you see improvement and regression just from the adversity. You’re standing there looking up and, now, you have to tilt that head up a littler higher.”
But it’s not like Noger-Onstott is solely focused on one event. She won the triple jump with a 31-11¼ distance and the long jump at 14-11 and helped the 400 relay team finish second to Santa Fe Prep. All of that came within the first 90 minutes of the meet, and Noger-Onstott said she battling some fatigue coming into the meet.
“Usually, I feel pretty fine, but [Thursday] I just feel tired,” Noger-Onstott said. “Usually, it’s OK.”
While Noger-Onstott was competing with herself, Santa Fe Prep’s Sam Sparks was doing his part to be a good teammate. The junior already qualified for the 3A state meet by distance in the triple jump (40-11), long jump (20-3½) and high jump (6-0), but he helped the Blue Griffins qualify the 400 relay team with a time of 45.54 seconds.
The Prep relay included Sean Coles, who hadn’t run the event since the eighth grade, and senior Harrison Trainor has struggled with handoffs.
“[Thursday], we were all just perfect,” Sparks said. “It was a great race. Coach [Tove Shere] didn’t think we could do it right away, but we all had faith and we all believed and wanted it so bad.”
Sparks tried to extend his generosity toward teammate Sean Coles in the high jump by pushing him past the 5-10 mark to qualify in the high jump, but it was a goal left wanting. Sparks could not clear 5-8, which came after his work in the 400 relay and the 100, while Coles missed out on the qualifying mark, as his feet hit the bar on his final jump.
Coles is still a neophyte in the high jump, but Sparks said he might end up being the better high jumper by May. Sparks took fifth at state in 2017.
“Me and Sean have been pushing ourselves in practices in the jumps,” Sparks said. “Sean is new to this, but he’s got springs, so we’re pushing each other like me and [2017 Prep grad Patrick Boyd] did last year.”
New Mexico School for the Deaf ’s Deven Thompson picked up where he left off last year in the discus. The reigning 1A champion perched himself atop the list of qualifiers in the event when she threw a 132-3 on his second throw, only to fire off a 136-1 on his final attempt to win by more than 20 feet over runner up Chris Brewer of ATC.