A historic morning for La Cueva's Tanner Montano, who tied state's oldest track and field record

David Powdrell of Highland stands alone no more. But he didn’t surrender his title as the state’s long jump record holder, either.

The oldest and most venerable high school record on New Mexico’s prep track and field books was equaled (twice, incredibly enough) on Friday morning by junior Tanner Montaño of La Cueva at the University of New Mexico complex as the Class 5A state meet got underway.

Powdrell’s existing mark, set in 1970, was 24 feet, 3¼ inches.

Fantastically, and certainly improbably, Montaño hit that exact distance twice Friday.

Montaño soared 24-3¼ on his first attempt of prelims. But the wind gauge reading — +2.2 meters per second; anything over +2.0 is considered wind-aided — negated this mark as a tying record.

On his second attempt, with a legal wind, Montaño went 24-0¾, and that extended his existing Class 5A record (23-7 3/4), which he set in 2024. But there was still the matter of the overall record, Powdrell’s record.

A short time later, on his first jump of the finals, Montaño went 24-3¼ for a second time, and the wind this time (+1.1) was under the threshold and cleared the path for him to officially join Powdrell as a joint record holder in this event.

“I’m very proud. I obviously wanted to break it and I kind of wanted to go for 25 (feet),” Montaño said. “I wasn’t sure what I was capable of today, but to go down in the record books with tying the (oldest) record, I’m fine with it.”

Montaño’s quest to break the record attracted an unusually large crowd — for a field event at 8 a.m. on a Friday — to the east side of UNM facility.

In the crowd was Powdrell.

And if Montaño hitting 24-3¼ twice wasn’t so statistically improbable — Powdrell’s presence added to the surreal nature of that — there was also this nugget:

Both Powdrell and Montaño jumped 24-3¼ on May 16. And both hit that number in their junior seasons.

So after 55 years, the book will recognize two record holders in the boys long jump.

Powdrell and Montaño visited briefly after the event was completed. It was good that Montaño hit the 24-3¼ on his first attempt in the finals, because he scratched on his next two tries.

“I told him, don’t let this record get in your head,” Powdrell said.

“He congratulated me, and said to not reach for the state record, but reach for 25 (feet),” Montaño said. “It was a cool moment.”

Montaño has been wanting to break the record in this event for a few years. And he’ll have his senior state meet to climb higher into the dirt pit.

“The state record was the goal, but I thought I could have went 25,” he said, adding, “It’s a huge honor. I just hope I can break it next year.”

Powdrell remarked that there were other athletes besides him who regularly cleared 24 feet when he jumped for Highland.

“Now,” he said, “a New Mexico athlete is getting in that arena again.”