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Storm boys, Rams girls are 1-5A champs
Cleveland’s Morgan James clears a hurdle at the district meet; she won both hurdles events. The times she recorded at the 1-5A meet would have each been good enough for fourth place at the 2023 5A state meet.
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RIO RANCHO — The Cleveland High School boys and the Rio Rancho High School girls track and field teams head to this weekend’s state track meet as District 1-5A championships following last weekend’s district meet at Cleveland High School.
The Storm boys have won the last nine district championships and the last seven state titles in track and field; the Ram girls, winning their second 1-5A title in a row, are still seeking their first blue trophy.
Cleveland racked up a team score of 216 points to win the boys’ title, thanks to seven individual wins and a relay team victory. Rio Rancho (128) was second, followed by Volcano Vista (75), Atrisco Heritage Academy (35) and Cibola (12).
The RRHS girls, led by three field events won by Arianna Valenzuela and three relay victories, amassed 156.66 points to out-distance Volcano Vista (136.33), Cleveland (131), Cibola (28) and Atrisco Heritage Academy (18).
Here are the Rio Rancho student-athletes who finished 1, 2 and 3:
Cleveland boys: In first place, Joaquin Armijo in the 300-meter hurdles (41.1 seconds), Tyler Griffth in the 400 (50.67), Pax Earwood in the high jump (5 feet, 4 inches), Tahi Gonzales in the triple jump (40 feet, 6 inches), Grant Wade in the discus (152-9), Jordan Mora in the javelin (169-5) and Strat Shufelt in the shot put (59-6). The Storm’s 4x400 relay team was also first.
Finishing second for the Storm were Gonzales (high jump and long jump), Juan Munoz (200), Kyler Badwarrior (800), Lucas Espinosa (1,600), Armijo (110-hurdles), Zim Satcher (triple jump), Isaac Medrano (javelin) and Shufelt (discus). Cleveland’s other four relay quartets — the 4x100, 4x200, 4x800 and medley — each finished second.
Grabbing third-place finishes for CHS were Braeden Grimando (high jump), Munoz (100), Griffith (200), Vince Madalena (1,600), Karter Weddle (300-hurdles), Landon Chavez (triple jump), Moses Sparks (discus), Chuka Tutman (javelin) and Wade (shot).
Looking to the weekend, Kenny Henry, the architect of the Storm dynasty, said, “We feel like we have a chance to do something special (at state). … Our throws are huge for us this year. The throws group has scored a ton of points for us all season, and we believe they can do it again next week, but we have the ability to score in a lot of places. We like all our relays, we have some hurdlers who can do well, and we think we can pick up points in a lot of places. The only place we didn’t qualify someone is in the pole vault.
“We will have to have a very good meet as there are some other very capable teams. But we are excited to say the least.”
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Rio Rancho boys: The runner-up Rams had nine wins: Gabe Luna in the 100 (10.99), Alejandro Casaus in the 1,600 (4:36.93), Mateo Herrera in the 3,200 (10:11.7), Charles Carreathers in the long jump (20-8), Ryder Sibley in the pole vault (11-6), plus the 4x100, 4x200, 4x800 and medley relay teams.
Devon Bowie (300-hurdles) and Ryan Brown (shot) finished second.
Skyler Galbraith (800) and Gabe Parsons (pole vault), and the 4x400 relay squad were third.
Rio Rancho girls: Valenzuela had a big day for the winners, finishing first in the discus (128-6), javelin (138-5) and shot put (38-4). Jordyn Griego was first in the 800 (2:28.16), Abby McGee won the pole vault (8-6) and the Rams’ 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relay quartets posted wins.
Makenna Lee and Abigail Beam had two second-place finishes: Lee in the 400 and high jump, Beam in the 1,600 and 3,200. Kiera Trujillo-Garcia (200) and Ana Zarate-Aguilar (800) also were runners-up.
Lee (200) and Trujillo-Garcia (100) also had third-place finishes, as did Mariah Galbraith (1,600 and 3,200), Ryanne Huntington (shot) and the medley relay team.
Cleveland girls: Morgan James won the 100-metter (16.01) and 300-hurdles (46.6) for the Storm, who also had first-place finishes by Emma Wild in the high jump (4-11) and Karissa Williams in the long jump (15-11¾).
If Valenzuela had missed the meet, Jaylee Gandert would have won three events. Instead, she was the runner-up in the discus (122-6), javelin (133-7) and shot (35-7½). Sierra Reza was second in the triple jump, while the CHS 4x100, 4x200, 4x400 and medley relay teams each placed second.
Finishing third for the Storm girls were the 4x800 relay squad, Malia Hunter-Garcia (100-hurdles), Baylee Savage (high jump) and Kiara Garcia (discus).
Splits: Find all the information about the ticket prices, parking prices and event times at nmact.org.
