State records set in abundance at small-school track

The state records fell left and right Friday on the first day of the small-school state track and field championships at the University of New Mexico.

In fact, they were falling from almost the very minute the meet began at 8 a.m. Friday. And they were still falling close to sundown.

One of the first field events of the morning was the boys Class 1A discus. Aaron Torres of Fort Sumner broke his own state record with a mark of 141 feet, 1 inch.

The 4x800-meter relay was under siege like perhaps no relay ever. The Santa Fe Prep girls were up first, breaking the Class 3A record.

All three of the 3,200-meter boys state records were broken over the next 45 minutes. First by Logan in Class 1A. Then by Mesa Vista in 2A. And then by Ruidoso in 3A.

The 2A race standings were a sight to see: the top six teams that scored ALL broke the state record in the same race. The Trojans lowered the 2A mark by about 24 seconds.

The Judd siblings, Haden and Makinlee, both set individual state records Friday. Judd went 22.5 seconds in the 200-meter preliminaries, exactly one-half second lower than the record he already held. He nearly broke a state record in the 100 prelims, an event in which he also is the current record holder. He missed, tying it by 0.01 seconds.

Makinlee’s record (more on her in a moment) came with a 9-6 mark on her final attempt in the 1A pole vault.

Arguably the most impressive state record established Friday was that in the Class 1A girls long jump by Fort Sumner senior Alyssa Casaus.

The record was 16 feet, 3¼ inches. Casaus on Friday went 17-6. And this was poetic for her, as she said she went 17-0 as a sophomore and 17-3 as a junior, both neither counted as a state record because she had a helping wind.

“After all those years of it getting pulled from me, it felt really relieving,” Casaus said. “I’m very happy ending on a win, and something I worked so hard to do.”

As for Makinlee Judd, her win was a little unusual. The other girl who was remaining in the event, Olivia Burton of Springer, had already cleared 9 feet. Judd missed her first try at that height.

Right before her second jump, the decision was made to move the bar up, to 9-6. Which Judd cleared on her first attempt. Burton was unable to match.

Sandia Prep’s Kate Henderson, who has been a premier distance runner during a terrific career with the Sundevils, went out in style in the open 3,200, as she posted an impressive victory (11:33.39). She was in some physical distress after the race, but it is believed she’ll be back Saturday for her final day of high school competition, to run the 1,600-meter final.

As for Judd’s brother, who may very well be the best athlete in any of the three classes this weekend, he wasn’t the only one to break a state record in the 200 prelims. So did Gabriella Knoten of Mountainair, who broke a seven-year-old mark.

The 3,200 was the only individual running final on Friday. One of the top showings was that of Laguna-Acoma junior Tagoya Pedro, who finished in just over 9 minutes and 43 seconds. He was about 25 seconds lower than his previous best time this year.

Oak Grove Classical Academy freshman Olivia Marquez like Pedro, is a back-to-back state champion in the 3,200. She had a victory in the 2A final with a time of 12:07.26.

“It wasn’t the time I necessarily wanted, but I’m just trying to be grateful,” she said. “... It was definitely slower than last year.”

The metro area had other successes on Friday.

Menaul junior J’Quan Samuels, who just moved to this country eight months ago from Anguilla, and hadn’t been involved in the high jump for two years before this season began, cleared 6 feet, 6 inches to win the 2A event. He also placed second in the long jump.

“I didn’t want to do track, but I realized that track is actually helping me with basketball and I put my all into it,” the 6-foot-6 Samuels said. “It felt great.”

Legacy Academy senior Noah Sanchez had his best throw on his first attempt in prelims in the 2A discus. Then, he said with a smile, he had to sweat out the rest of his rivals, and hope that none of them would eclipse him.

“I was getting pretty anxious,” he said. “I really didn’t want anybody to beat that.”

The meet resumes on Saturday morning with the rest of the field finals, which will be ongoing all day, and the running program begins at 10 a.m.