Huge day for Judds, St. Michael's at small school state track

You couldn’t miss Haden Judd around the University of New Mexico Track and Field complex this weekend.

The Logan High School senior capped off what was quite literally a perfect Class 1A state meet, as he finished the two days with five individual victories, and three state records — records he himself already possessed in all three events.

When the NMAA Track & Field State Championship small-school meet ended, Judd had wins in the 100, 200, 300 hurdles, pole vault and triple jump. And won them all on the same day.

And if you couldn’t miss him with your eyes, you could hear him after the meet was over; the five medals he won were clanking together as he wore them around his neck. He unquestionably was the star of this competition.

“Something I’ve always been looking forward to, winning all five medals, and I finally got it done,” he said.

His 100 performance was memorable, finishing in 10.87 seconds. It was his first time ever under 11, and he shaved almost three-tenths of a second off the previous mark (11.16), which he recorded last year.

He added the pole vault title, going 15 feet, 6 inches. The record was 14-0, set by Judd last year. And he later won the triple jump at 41-7 ½.

Returning to the track, he won the 200, although his record in this event (22.50) was actually set Friday in prelims (he was 22.62 in the finals). And he segued quickly from pole vault to the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, where he won that race for the fifth time in his career with the Longhorns.

Friday produced a fairly large number of state records across the six meets in Class 1A, 2A and 3A, and that seemed like pittance compared to Saturday’s blitzkrieg of the record books.

Consider first the Judd Siblings. Sophomore Makinlee Judd, like her brother, broke at least one record on both days of the meet.

Freshman Olivia Marquez of Oak Grove Classical Academy and Sandia Prep senior Kate Henderson both completed the distance sweeps on Saturday. Each won the 3,200 on Friday evening, then followed that up with victories in the 800 and 1,600 on Saturday.

Henderson was first in the 800 (2:18.42) and 1,600 (5:18.87). She is headed for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and has been the metro’s top runner (aside from Eldorado’s Gianna Rahmer) the last two seasons.

“I’m definitely proud of myself,” she said, reflecting on her career with the Sundevils. “I’ve definitely had a lot of obstacles I’ve had to overcome, but I feel like that’s what made me a stronger runner. I’m excited for a new chapter.”

With respect to Marquez and Henderson, the most impressive distance runner at the meet in either gender was Laguna-Acoma junior Tagoya Pedro. He also won all three, and established state records Saturday in the 800 (1:54.79) and 1,600 (4:27.45).

“This is a hard thing,” Pedro said. “(But) I feel like the work I’ve been doing all season has come into play all together here.”

The 1,600 sprint Medley relay surprisingly proved to be one of the most entertaining events of the meet. St. Michael’s in 3A girls won a tremendously close race at the finish against Santa Fe Prep (4:18.83-4:18.92), and both schools broke a state record in the process.

Jal narrowly edged Texico in an exciting finish in the 2A girls race.

The Melrose boys broke a Medley state record. So did Pecos, and the Panthers quartet eclipsed a mark that had stood since 1981.

Other individual state records that fell Saturday: Roy’s Ayden Clavel in the boys 1A javelin (172-3): Makinlee Judd in the 100-meter high hurdles (15.88, breaking the mark she set last year); Alani Magill of Gateway Christian in the 1A girls 300 hurdles (47.39); and Gabriella Knoten of Mountainair (26.78) in the 2A girls 200.

Makinlee Judd also won the 100 Saturday.

The metro area had lots of success across the board.

Legacy Academy had two multiple winners in Sonrisa Gonzales, who took both hurdles finals. Jay Lee had the best day of any boy not named Haden Judd. He was first in the 2A pole vault and like Gonzales swept the 2A hurdles, plus he ran to victory in the 200.

And Legacy finished in the top two in both meets.

“Last season, I was really trying to prove myself to others and my emotions (got in the way) instead of focusing on what needed to be done,” Gonzales said. “Since the start of this season, I’ve been honing in on what is the race in front of me.”

For the girls, very few athletes had a better Saturday than sophomore Lexie Dixon of Sandia Prep, who won the three open sprints. She first captured the 100 (12.68), then the 400 (58.05) and finally the 200 where she set a state record (25.77). That race came near the end of the program on a warm and moderately breeze day at UNM.

“My top speed is really so fast, I think I can just go out there and hit it every time,” she said following her victory in the 100, which she also won a year ago.

TEAM: St. Michael’s won state in 3A boys for the sixth time since 2019; this streak includes the last five. There was no state meet in 2020.

Soren Annon of the Horsemen also had three victories on Saturday. He took first in the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles, plus the 200. Later, he spoke about some of the magic that sustains him.

“I think a lot of it has to do with our coaching staff. We keep the same coaches through football and they coach our guys in multiple sports. And they’ve been doing it for such a long time, they really have figured it out,” Annon said.

St. Mike’s scored 93 points, well in front of runner-up New Mexico Military Institute’s 54.5 points.

Logan was a runaway team champion in 1A boys, stockpiling 126 points — 35 from Judd alone — and scoring a 73-point triumph over Fort Sumner. If Judd had been the only athlete Logan sent to state, the Longhorns still would have finished fifth.

Texico’s 60 points earned the Wolverines a blue trophy in 2A boys. Legacy Academy was 9.5 points behind in second.

The final running event of the meet, the 4x400 relay, played a huge factor in the final team standings in each girls’ classification.

Fort Sumner barely held off Logan, 91-90, and only because the Vixens finished fourth in that relay. If they had finished fifth, they’d have lost the meet by a single point.

Texico (66) and Legacy Academy (58.5) also went 1-2 in the 2A girls standings.

Class 3A girls saw St. Michael’s win the relay and jump over rival Santa Fe Prep to claim first, 84.5-81.5.