Cleveland is Team To Beat

It is becoming quickly apparent that the Cleveland Storm will head into the Class 5A boys state track and field meet as a very solid favorite.

The Storm routed a talented field last weekend at Wilson Stadium at the Albuquerque Invitational. Cleveland’s 152 points were 60 better than second-place La Cueva, with Albuquerque Academy a distant third.

Cleveland won 11 events. The Storm scored in all 19 events, and had multiple placers in 11 of the 15 individual events.

Reece White was a double champion, sweeping the 110-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles. He also was fifth int he 200.

Other event winners included Romell Jordan in the 100 (he also placed second in the 200), Tyler Van Bastian in the 400, Luis Martinez in the 1,600, Aaron Flores in the 3,200 and Brandon Leitch in the javelin.

Cleveland swept the four relays, and dominated each one of them. The Storm beat La Cueva by nearly 1.5 seconds in the 4×100 and 4×200, had a four-second victory in the 4×400, and a five-second romp in the Medley relay.

Other top individual finishes for Cleveland: Parker Jones (third in the 100 and runner-up in the high jump), Julian Rivas (fourth in the 800), Jared Mayoral (thid in the 1,600), Cheyne Dorsey (third in the 110 hurdles, and also one leg in three winning relays), Tyler Chavez (third in the high jump), Tyler Caldwell (runner-up in the triple jump), Nainoa Biggs (fourth in the triple jump), Desmond Branch (fourth in the shot put) and Jacob Anderson (third in the discus).

State qualifying marks were posted by the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams, plus Leitch in the javelin and Mayoral in the 1,600.

Cleveland is running Saturday at an APS spring meet at Wilson Stadium.

♦ Rio Rancho’s boys were at Milne Stadium for the other half of the Albuquerque Invitational.

The Rams won the meet with 94 points. Volcano Vista was second, five points back.

Connor Brown was a double winner for Rio Rancho. He took the high jump at 6 feet, 4 inches, and also added the long jump title with a mark of 20-3 1/2. Brown was the runner-up in the 110-meter high hurdles as well.

Alex Oluyitan dominated the shot put, with a heave of 53-11. That was over five feet better than the runner-up. He was fourth in the discus.

Other top finishes: C.J. Williams (second in the 100), Ryan Betty (second in the 1,600), Tristen Foley (third in the 400), Calvin Larson (third in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles), Benjamin Maurer (fourth in the 200), Preston Charlie (fourth in the 3,200), Matt Guevara (fourth in the javelin) and Brennan Schall (fourth in the pole vault)

Rio Rancho had two relay victories, in the 4×100 and 4×200.

The Rams are hosting their own invitational on Friday and Saturday at the University of New Mexico track facility.

♦ Bernalillo’s boys also were at Milne; Jacob Martin’s fourth-place showing in the high jump was the Spartans’ best finish.

Girls

Cleveland edged La Cueva, 116-111, to take the team honors at Wilson Stadium. It is the Storm’s fourth straight meet victory.

The Storm had four first-place finishes. Sara Hattis outperformed state champion Cassie House in the high jump, taking the event with a mark of 5-4. Danielle Vigil was the winner in the 300 hurdles in 46.95 seconds. Alex Williams (119-8) won the javelin, and Malia Gonzales ran to a win in the 3,200 in 11 minutes, 59.54 seconds.

Other top finishes: Gonzales (third in the 1,600), Rikki Castillo (second in the 3,200), Nicolette Pacheco (third in the 3,200), Vigil (second in the 100 hurdles), Williams (fourth in the triple jump), Mikayla Brownell (third in the shot put), Alex Winebark (fourth in the shot put, runner-up in the discus and third in the javelin), and Pearl Isaia (third in the discus and fourth in the javelin).

Cleveland ran second in each of the four relays.

The Storm are at the Moriarty Invitational today.

♦ Rio Rancho was at Milne Stadium, where the Rams finished fifth with 48 1/2 points. St. Pius (75 1/2) won the meet by one-half point over Volcano Vista.

Junior Ally Salata continued to shine in the javelin, where she (along with Cleveland’s Williams) will be among the favorites at the state meet next month. She won the event with a throw of 118 feet, 9 inches.

Krista Savela took the 300 hurdles in a time of 51.24 seconds, over a second better than Albuquerque High’s Elizabeth Herring.

Savela also was third in the 100 hurdles, an event in which teammate Caitlin Boning was fourth.

Other top finishes came from Nia Powdrell (third in the 200) and Rebecca Barnreiter (third in the discus). The Rams ran third in the 400-meter relay and were second in the 800-meter relay.

Rio Rancho is hosting its invite Friday and Saturday at the UNM Track. The Rio Rancho Journal will recap the meet next Thursday.

♦ Bernalillo also was at Milne Stadium. Marisol Mendoza had a couple of top-six finishes for the Spartans, including a fourth in the triple jump.