Vause, Coombs partner up at the Great Southwest

They spent the better part of the last two years as rivals.

On this Friday night, the swan song for Charlie Vause and Corbin Coombs as New Mexico prep athletes had them joining forces as teammates.

“I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” said Vause, a recent graduate of Rio Rancho High School. “It is so worth it. I think it is so fitting that the last time both of us run in New Mexico is on the same team.”

The state’s two distance titans combined to form half of New Mexico’s “A” entry in the 4x800-meter relay at the University of New Mexico Track and Field Complex on the second day of the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic.

That duo, who staged repeated battles both on the cross country courses of the fall and the tracks in the spring the last two seasons, combined with Elliot Hickey of Albuquerque Academy and Tagoya Pedro of Laguna-Acoma to win the event.

“I was just sick of racing against him,” Vause said, smiling in a nod to Coombs who was standing next to him. “I wanted to race with him. I think we bring out the best in each other.”

They chased the meet record, but came up a couple of seconds short, in 7 minutes, 36.37 seconds. It went from Hickey to Vause to Pedro to Coombs.

It was impressive that Coombs and Vause even appeared at the Great Southwest, seeing as how both were in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday night, competing at the HOKA Festival of Miles.

The rivals competed against one another in the Championship-level high school mile event. Coombs from Organ Mountain – who just recently broke the magical 4-minute mile threshold at an outdoor meet in Alabama – finished ninth in 4 minutes, 3.29 seconds. Vause (4:04.02) placed 10th. (The Rahmer sisters, Gianna and Isla, both competed in St. Louis on Thursday, as well).

Coombs and Vause both very much wanted to add the Great Southwest to their tight schedules.

“I have a lot of respect for this guy,” Coombs said about Vause. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”

Coombs added: “When he moved in (to New Mexico from Ohio), I felt very motivated to rise to the level of the competition. I always wanted to be the top New Mexico guy.”

Neither probably had their best stuff Friday night, since their mile race Thursday in Missouri was also in the evening. Vause said he only arrived at UNM about an hour before their scheduled race.

“I felt a little flat,” Coombs admitted.

Coombs and Vause ran 1-2 at each of the three distances at last month’s Class 5A state meet. Coombs’ schedule doesn’t let up; he is scheduled to run another prominent meet on Sunday in Seattle.

DECATHLON/HEPTATHLON: Arizona’s Ryder Hall and Utah’s Lucy Harris were the decathlon and heptathlon champions, respectively, on a hot Friday at UNM.

Hall, competing in his first-ever decathlon, won three of the 10 events and scored 6,397 points.

“I exceeded them,” Hall said of his expectations coming into Great Southwest. “This is the best I’ve ever felt. Also the worst.”

Hall, from Taylor, Arizona, has been coming to this meet for several years. The first time was just as a high jumper. He also has a tie to Albuquerque, as his older brother Jake is a coach at Albuquerque Academy.

He won the long jump and high jump on Thursday, which were in his wheelhouse since he excels at all three jumps. He also was first in the pole vault on Friday. He was runner-up in the 100 and 400.

Spencer Lewis of Utah (5,977) and Andrew Himes of Bloomfield (5,943) rounded out the top three. Himes was the winner in the 110-meter high hurdles, and he finished second in long jump and discus.

Hall said he was encouraged enough by his performance Thursday and Friday to want to enter more decathlons in the future. But they are taxing, he said.

On the physically spent scale, Hall said, he was “a 9 out of 10. Pretty painful.”

Harris in her heptathlon victory scored 5,044 points over the two-day competition.

Harris had three event wins and also three second-place finishes.

Highland’s Rebecca Neal placed seventh overall, winning the shot put.

SATURDAY: The large bulk of the meet is Saturday at UNM. All of the field events are scheduled, starting at 9 a.m. The last field event begins at 5;30 p.m.

The top athletes in the meet in the running events can be seen starting at 5 p.m.

Photos: Great Southwest Track and Field Classic decathlon