Indoor track: Rio Rancho's James and Casaus take first 

Albuquerque- The New Mexico Collegiate Classic indoor meet brought some of the top prep track and field athletes to the Albuquerque Convention Center Feb. 7.  

A couple of the standouts included Cleveland's Morgan James, and Rio Rancho's Alejandro Casaus, both of whom took first place in their respective events.

James shined in the 60-meter hurdles, and earned a first place finish with a time of  9.05. 

"It was pretty great. Still have some things to clean up but it was a great race," James said.

The Storm athlete is a three-time individual state champion, and is PAC-12 bound as a Boise State commit.

 James also recorded the fastest 300-meter hurdling time in New Mexico prep history at the Great Southwest back in June 2025. Though not reflected in the NMAA record (Great Southwest is a non-NMAA event), her 42.86 time is the de facto fastest time by a New Mexican high schooler.

As far as other Storm track athletes, James highlighted Samaya Fashola and Jada Maldonado as a couple of girls to keep an eye on. 

The race of the day came in the boys 1600-meter run which featured Rio Rancho's Alejandro Casaus, Organ Mountain's Daxton Coombs, La Cueva's Nikko Mihan, and Laguna Acoma's Tagoya Pedro. The four runners just happen to be some of the top runners in the state. 

The race was an absilute nailbitter, and in the final strecth came Coombs and Casaus which was very reminiscent of Corbin Coombs and Charlie Vause at the 2025 state championships. 

"I tucked behind first, and then once Dax came, I knew it was time to go," Casaus said. 

Casaus was able to edge Coombs by .21 seconds and snag first place (4:24.11). It was a brilliant finsish from the Rams top runner from the 2025 cross country season. 

"We're not 'walled' in because we lost our [2025] seniors," Casaus said of the Ram runners this track season. "Watch out for Isaiah Galbraith, Gabriel Koger, and Aiden Ivener."

Rio Rancho's Isiaih Galbraith and Cleveland's Patrick Miranda competed in the 1600-meter run as well, and both posted mile times in the 4:40s.

Rio Rancho's Mariah Galbraith competed in the girls 1600-meter  run, and took fifth place with a time  of 5:24.07. Mariah was the individual runner-up in the 2025 5A state cross country championships, and the 2025 district champ. She will be a crucial piece for the Rams quest for three-straight state titles.

The outdoor track season will begin in just a month and a half with the Rio Rancho Rust Buster in early March.