Tigers dominate at West Las Vegas Invitational
Valdez to run for the Greyhounds
The Taos Tigers are back on track to their winning ways. On Saturday (April 2), they traveled to Las Vegas for the West Las Vegas Invitational at the Frank Herrera Complex. The boys took first place overall as a team. The girls took fourth place overall as a team.
The Tigers dominated the boys triple jump category with three athletes getting into the top four. Marcus Trujillo (40’ 6.50) and Michael Mondragon (40’ 0.75) came in first and second place, respectively. Korlan Gibson (37’ 11”) came in fourth place.
Boys track and field
First place Taos 80pts
Second place St. Michael’s 78.5 Third place Española 43 Fourth place Santa Fe Prep34 Girls track and field
First place Belen 78
Second place St. Michael’s 71 Third place Santa Fe Prep 41 Fourth place Taos 35
The Peñasco Independent School District declared on Wednesday (March 30) via Facebook that Gilly Valdez signed his letter of intent to run cross country and track for the Eastern New Mexico University Greyhounds. The public university is set in Portales, N.M., and they participate in Division II athletics, specifically, the Lone Star Conference.
Cross country coach and track and field coach, Ben Sanchez, has coached Valdez since he was a seventh-grader. Valdez has qualified for states every year since he became a varsity runner in the eighth grade. In the 2021 cross country state meet, Valdez dominated the field with a 47-second lead over Cloudcroft’s Max Presser, who came in second place with a time of 16:47.9. Valdez made All-American and competed in the South Western Nike Nationals, in the small school category (1-999 students). Valdez came in first place in the 5,000 meters open with a time of 15:55.3 in a field of 231 runners.