Rams keep Runnin': Rio Rancho shows out in 'rust buster' event; girls take first place

RIO RANCHO — For an event labeled a “rust buster,” the Rams appeared to have none to begin with.

In their home event, Rio Rancho track and field took a first-place victory in the girls' field and a second-place finish in the boys, featuring some impressive finishes still early into the season.

Rio won the 4x100 relay in both the girls and boys fields, with the boys also winning in the 4x200 and the girls winning in the 4x800 and 4x400.

Individually, the day was highlighted by Julian Marquez, taking the top spot in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes.

The girls would also find a podium placer in the dashes, as Idaly Rodarte took first in the 100-meter.

In the longer races, Issac Deleon and Gabriel Koger would finish 1-2 in the boys' 3,200-meter run, with Valentina Martinez finishing second in the same event for the girls.

Even in the races where they would not find gold, the Rams would leave marks on the scoreboard to impact the final totals, such as Luaren Buford, Caitlynn Parsons and Nizhoni Tsosie coming together to finish 5-6-7 in the 1,600-meter run, or Matthias Parsons and Michael Caraveo’s second- and third-place spots in their own 1,600.

The heat was turning up inside the lanes, but the real damage would be done in the field events, in large part due to Sarah Martinez.

Sarah Martinez took first in girls' discus throw and shot put, including an impressive 122-01.50 score in discus.

Keyara Haywood would take to the mats with a high jump first-place showing, along with Lily Romero’s perfection in a first-place pole vault run. Finally, Chloe Deaton rounded out a dominant display from the Rams in the long jump, taking first in a full-Rio podium.

Rio’s girls took first overall by a whopping score of 155, compared to the second-place total of 59, while Los Lunas’ 122.66 would beat out the boys’ score of 105.

Things couldn’t get much better on Loma Colorado Boulevard, but out of the state, the Rams were still putting on a show.

Running in the Chandler, Arizona, Invitational meet, Mariah Galbraith broke her own school record with a 10:56.17 finish in the girls' 3,200-meter run.

So, if this performance was indeed in fact just a “rust buster,” then it could be a fun season for the Runnin’ Rams.

Looking to keep the momentum rolling, the Rams will now gear up for the Bernalillo Relays before hosting the Rio Rancho Invite to open April.