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Harper prep track and field: Los Alamos girls dominate

james yodice, albuquerque journal, n.m.
·7 min read

Apr. 22—The Los Alamos High School girls track and field team performed like Secretariat — and in tribute to an iconic phrase from 50 years ago, the Hilltoppers performed like a tremendous machine.

That Los Alamos is New Mexico's best team is well known in the track community. But on Saturday, the second day of the Richard A. Harper Memorial Meet at Albuquerque Academy, the Hilltoppers put an emphatic exclamation point on their dominance with an epic dusting of a high quality field.

Los Alamos not only beat runner-up Albuquerque Academy by 109 points (155-46); the Hilltoppers, who were a factor in just about every event this weekend, scored nearly as many points by themselves as Academy, third-place Cleveland, fourth-place Volcano Vista and fifth-place La Cueva put together. That quartet combined to score 159 points.

"Hard work," sophomore Jaiya Daniels said. She was the 100-meter and 200-meter champion Saturday, and also ran the anchor leg on Los Alamos' victory in the 4×100 relay. "We go through practices that are brutal, so we suffer (through) the practices so we can come here and have these accomplishments at the meet."

Los Alamos teammate Emma Montoya had a super weekend. She was runner-up Friday in the 3,200, and on Saturday she won the 1,600-meter final and ran second to Kate Henderson of Sandia Prep in the 800. Anna Wetteland of the Hilltoppers was first in the 400.

Los Alamos also won all four relays on Saturday.

One of the few areas in which the Hilltoppers didn't dominate was the hurdles. That domain belongs to La Cueva's elite Sima Lucero. She won easily in the 100-meter high hurdles, and in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, she was 2 1/2 seconds ahead.

And later, she said something interesting when asked if she is just that naturally talented or just that technically proficient.

"I don't think I'm a natural hurdler," she said, smiling, "and I'm definitely not very good technically. I'm still working on it."

Cleveland's boys won the two-day meet with 77 points, 16 in front of Los Alamos. And the Storm won with depth; it didn't finish first in any of the 12 events in which there were finals on Saturday.

But the Storm did suffer a potential blow as sprinter Even Wysong suffered what was an upper leg injury in the 4×100-meter relay, the first final of the day. Moments later, he withdrew from the open 100, where he had qualified.

The fastest kid on the track Saturday was Santa Fe High sophomore Bryce Melton. He anchored the Demons' victory in the 4×100, and also swept titles in the 100 and 200.

Melton ran a brilliant 100-meter race, winning in a swift 10.70 seconds. He had run 10.55 in the prelims on Friday, but that was with a strong tailwind. There was no wind or breeze whatsoever on a perfect Saturday.

"It's awesome," Melton said. "I'm so happy about the outcome today."

Melton edged Los Alamos' Melaki Gutierrez in the 200 late in the program, and Gutierrez also was the runner-up in the 100.

Willie Johns of Rio Rancho won both hurdles' finals Saturday. He recorded the only sub-15 second mark in the 110-meter high hurdles, and his triumph in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles was especially dramatic. He overcame a deficit in the final few meters, and the final hurdle, to edge Hope Christian's Kidus Tekle and Los Alamos' Daniel Kim.

The host Chargers had a winner in junior Alex Goss, who ran down Cleveland's Caden Nunn on the second lap to take the 800-meter crown. He set a personal record (1 minute, 55.07 seconds) by three seconds.

"It's always fun running any good time, but running it where your friends and family are all here, because you're so close to home, just adds on top of it," Goss said.

Cruz Markham of La Cueva won the 400, and Cibola's Reuben Johnson won the discus, the last of the field events. Two other athletes followed up wins on Friday with another victory on Saturday.

Eldorado's Nick Moore was terrific in capturing the 1,600-meter title, following his win in the 3,200 on Friday. Jaylee Gandert of Cleveland won Saturday's only field event, the discus. She also captured the javelin on Friday.

NOTES: University of New Mexico signee Steven West of Sandia (who would have run the 3,200 and 1,600) sat out another meet as he deals with a minor Achilles heel injury. He said he hopes to be back for the Albuquerque Metro Championships, which run Thursday and Friday at Nusenda Community Stadium.

—There was a new, and popular, feature, added to this year's Harper: a throwers' 4×100-meter exhibition run near the end of Saturday's program.

TRACK AND FIELD

Richard A. Harper Memorial Meet

Saturday — at Albuquerque Academy

BOYS

Team (Day 2 standings): Cleveland 77, Los Alamos 61, Rio Rancho 59, Eldorado 40, La Cueva 37, Albuquerque Academy 30 1/2 , Santa Fe 28, Hobbs 23, Cibola 20, Volcano Vista 19, Sandia 18, Hope Christian 14 1/2 , Piedra Vista 14, Los Lunas 14, Albuquerque High 9, Del Norte 8, Valencia 8, Sandia Prep 2, Rio Grande 2.

Individual: Discus—1, Reuben Johnson, Cibola, 156-10; 2, Franklin Rambo, Albuquerque Academy, 151-0. 4×100—1, Santa Fe, 42.51; 2, Hobbs, 42.70. 110HH—1, Willie Johns, Rio Rancho, 14.93; 2, Elijah Griego, Cleveland, 15.45.

100—1, Bryce Melton, Santa Fe, 10.70; 2, Melaki Gutierrez, Los Alamos, 11.02. 1,600—1, Nick Moore, Eldorado, 4:26.24; 2, Jorge Garcia, Del Norte, 4:31.59. 4×200—1, Rio Rancho, 1:29.44; 2, Cleveland, 1:29.54. 400—1, Cruz Markham, La Cueva, 49.48; 2, Brian Talley, Eldorado, 49.98. 300IH—1, Willie Johns, Rio Rancho, 39.24; 2, Kidus Tekle, Hope Christian, 39.36. 800—1, Alex Goss, Albuquerque Academy, 1:55.07; 2, Caden Nunn, Cleveland, 1:57.00. 1,600 medley—1, Los Alamos, 3:40.67; 2, Cleveland, 3:41.14. 200—1, Bryce Melton, Santa Fe, 21.33; 2, Melaki Gutierrez, Los Alamos, 21.42. 4×400—1, Los Alamos, 3:22.46; 2, Cleveland, 3:23.18.

GIRLS

Team (Day 2 standings): Los Alamos 155, Albuquerque Academy 46, Cleveland 41, Volcano Vista 37, La Cueva 35, Rio Rancho 35, Hobbs 24, Piedra Vista 22, Eldorado 15, Hope Christian 13, Cibola 13, Albuquerque High 11, Sandia Prep 10, Atrisco Heritage 9, Belen 7, Valencia 4, Valley 3, Sandia 3, Santa Fe 2.

Individual: Discus—1, Jaylee Gandert, Cleveland, 119-1; 2, Sterling Glenn, Rio Rancho, 113-11. 4×100—1, Los Alamos, 48.08; 2, Albuquerque Academy, 50.17. 100HH—1, Sima Lucero, La Cueva, 15.18; 2, Angelina Passalacqua, Los Alamos, 15.81. 100—1, Jaiya Daniels, Los Alamos, 12.10; 2, Nyla Lee, Los Alamos, 12.23. 1,600—1, Emma Montoya, Los Alamos, 5:12.67; 2, Anna Hastings, Albuquerque Academy, 5:16.81. 4×200—1, Los Alamos, 1:41.44; 2, Albuquerque Academy, 1:45.87. 400—1, Anna Wetteland, Los Alamos, 58.58; 2, Tatiana Magallanes, Atrisco Heritage, 1:01.37. 300IH—1, Sima Lucero, La Cueva, 44.05; 2, Hayden Saul, Hope Christian, 46.57. 800—1, Kate Henderson, Sandia Prep, 2:21.86; 2, Emma Montoya, Los Alamos, 2:24.02. 1,600 medley—1, Los Alamos, 3:40.67; 2, Cleveland, 3:41.14. 200—1, Jaiya Daniels, Los Alamos, 24.67; 2, Addisyn Leeds, Rio Rancho, 25.79. 4×400—1, Los Alamos, 4:04.77; 2, Hope Christian, 4:11.49.