Record-breaking day by familiar faces at the Harper

Charlie Vause and Gianna Rahmer took different routes to meet-record performances Friday at the Richard A. Harper Memorial Track and Field meet.

Vause was content to hang back for the first half of the 3,200-meter final at Albuquerque Academy, running in the middle of the pack while a small group of runners separated out front.

The Rio Rancho High senior exploded into another gear in the second mile, tracked down the leaders quickly, and broke the Harper meet record with a time of 9 minutes, 11.18 seconds.

“It was a very intentional way of racing today,” said Vause, who has signed with BYU.

His coach, Vause said, thought he should attempt to run mile splits of 4:52 and 4:18, which would put him at 9:10.

“The goal was to go out today very conservatively and then catch up to the pack,” he said.

Which he did, reeling them in fairly quickly given how far behind he was early.

“I wasn’t concerned,” Vause said.

Nicholas Ponte of Academy was just under eight seconds behind Vause.

Rahmer’s final preceded the boys; it was, optically, a little strange to see the superstar Eldorado freshman wearing the No. 2 on her uniform and running in a lane other than the inside lane. But she had only the second-fastest time in the 3,200 this season coming into the Harper, behind Anna Hastings of the host Chargers.

Nevertheless, Rahmer put together one of her familiar trademark performances, getting out to the lead early, and pulling away from her challengers — specifically Hastings — over the course of eight laps.

Rahmer won with a time of 10:39.92, about 19 seconds ahead of Hastings.

One of the athletes who found herself surprised at her victory was junior Antonella Begay, the daughter of former Academy athlete and New Mexico golfing legend Notah Begay III.

Begay, a Charger like her dad, was among the final three in the girls high jump, along with Highland’s Rebecca Neal and Los Alamos’ Raina Passalacqua.

Each missed each of their three attempts at 5 feet, 2 inches after they all cleared 5-0. Ultimately, the difference was that Begay had fewer misses.

“It’s really cool, actually,” said Begay, who is new to this discipline, of her victory. Her 5-0 was a personal record. She added, smiling: “I actually did not think I was going to win. I was looking at the heat sheet, and a lot of people had better PRs than me.”

Eldorado junior Kaili Roosild won a final, three-athlete duel in the pole vault with the Los Alamos duo of Colette Bibeault and Dani Trellue. Roosild, who was second to Bibeault at the recent Sepulveda meet, cleared 11 feet, 6 inches to win Friday at the Harper.

“I was super nervous, because Harper’s always been a difficult meet for me,” Roosild said. “Freshman year, I didn’t jump well, and I think I’ve had that in my mind these last two years.”

All but two of the 14 field events were contested on Friday, and the front-loading of field events is one of the features that makes the Harper such a unique meet.

Some of the other highlights off the track:

Junior Tanner Montano of La Cueva, a previous state champion in the long jump, ripped off a tremendous mark Friday to win the event, soaring 23 feet, 10 inches, which was over a foot ahead of West Mesa’s Marcos Perea-Ochoa.

Montano later earned the top qualifying mark in the 100-meter dash (10.77 seconds) ahead of Saturday’s final.

Santa Fe’s Bryce Melton, generally regarded as New Mexico’s most elite 100-meter athlete, is not at the Harper this weekend even though the Demons are; Melton picked up a late meet in the Phoenix area.

Cleveland’s Moses Sparks, considered by many to be New Mexico’s best football prospect next season, was first in the shot put. His toss of 54 feet, 2½ inches was nearly five feet better than second place.

There was an excellent battle in the girls javelin, and possibly a state preview, with Alejandra Sanchez of Hobbs outdistancing Mel Macias of Atrisco Heritage. Sanchez won with a throw of 125 feet, 11 inches. Macias’ mark was 123-11. It was a long way back, close to 20 feet, to third place.

Grace Erinle of Academy set a school record as she won the triple jump with a leap of 38 feet, 1¼ inches. The Chargers went 1-2-3 in this event, with Julia Stein and Isabella Romero finishing behind their teammate. Erinle also placed third in the long jump.

Isabella Files of Rio Grande was the girls shot put champion following her winning throw of 35-5.

The only other running final Friday was the 800. Addison Julian of Academy (2:15.65) was outstanding, and six seconds better than her previous best in this event this season. Luis Cordova was similarly impressive. He won in 1:54.73, which was about 3½ seconds than his best showing this spring.

DAY TWO: The only field events remaining are the boys and girls discus, which are Saturday morning. The other running finals, including all the relays and the open 1,600, will unfold starting at 9:30 a.m.