Storm Dominates Own Relays

The Cleveland High School boys and girls track and field teams dominated their home meet on Friday.

The Storm Relays were all about the Storm, with the boys scoring 165 1/2 points to easily outdistance Rio Rancho (93 1/2), while the girls finished with 117 points to just 81 for runner-up Los Alamos.

The Storm’s Romell Jordan zipped to a win in the 100-meter dash in 10.74 seconds, finishing just ahead of the Rams’ C.J. Williams (10.80). Cleveland’s Brandon Lawrence took the 200 in 22.19 seconds while teammate Cheyne Dorsey came in second at 22.27.

Other Storm winners on the track included Luis Martinez in the 800 (1 minute, 59.68 seconds) and Reece White in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.93 seconds).

Cleveland captured all four relays as well.

“For us, the thing we’re always trying to do is be as well-rounded as we can,” coach Kenny Henry said. “We scored on the track well, we scored well in the field events.”

In field events, the Storm’s Jacob Anderson won the discus with a toss of 139 feet, 7 inches. Camden Davis took the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 9 inches while teammate Nainoa Biggs was second (20-8).

Cleveland athletes who had second-place finishes included Davis in the 400, Jared Mayoral in the 3,200, Biggs in the triple jump and Parker Jones in the high jump.

♦ On the girls side, Cleveland’s winners included Julissa Hunte in the 200 (25.43 seconds), and Malia Gonzales in both the 800 (2:27.39) and 1,600 (5:25.84). Gonzales edged teammate Rikki Castillo (5:38.04) in the 1,600.

The Storm also captured the 1,600-meter relay title, its only top three finish in any of the relays.

“The girls stuck with it and what really carries us is our depth,” coach Tim Flores said. “We’ve qualified now (for state) in 17 of 19 events. The only ones we don’t have are the long jump and the triple jump.”

Cleveland’s field squad was led by Alex Winebark, whose throw of 120 feet, 10 inches won the discus.

Runners-up for the Storm girls included Cassie House in the high jump, Alex Williams in the triple jump and javelin, Nicolette Pacheco in the 3,200, Victoria Lyons in the 300 hurdles and Hunte in the 100.

RIO RANCHO: The Rio Rancho boys shined in the field events. Alex Oluyitan won the shot put with a throw of 52-6, Jason Fitzpatrick captured the javelin (186-8) and Connor Brown took the high jump (6-2).

“We were fine, we did about what we expected to do,” Rams coach Sal Gonzales said. “We had a big throw in the javelin, a school record.”

Runners-up for the Rams included Calvin Larsch in the 300 hurdles, Brown in the 110 hurdles, Ryan Betty in the 1,600 and C.J. Williams in the 100.

♦ For the Rio Rancho girls, it was a tough afternoon for the young squad, which finished in fifth place with 49 points, trailing Cleveland, Los Alamos, Los Lunas and Hope Christian.

“Not the overall finish we were hoping for,” coach Rick Miller said.

The Rams did triumph in the 1,600 medley relay in 4:29.37.

“I was proud of my girls winning the medley,” Miller said. “Overall we showed some improvement.”

In the field events, Ally Salata was third in the javelin, Rebecca Barnreiter was third in the discus and Merica Valdez was third in the pole vault.

The District 1-5A championships are next weekend at Milne Stadium.