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Home / Sports News / Boyd and Sparks are Prep’s one-two track and field punch, St. Mike’s Luttrell and Angel go the distance and Demon’s Edwards qualifies

Boyd and Sparks are Prep’s one-two track and field punch, St. Mike’s Luttrell and Angel go the distance and Demon’s Edwards qualifies

Sophomore Sam Sparks sharing the spotlight with senior Patrick Boyd as Santa Fe Prep’s one-two track and field punch as A-3A schools prepare for the weekend district championships

Griffins come off Saturday Shumate meet in Albuquerque, St. Michael’s Austin Luttrell and Justin Angel win distance races at Taos, SFHS sophomore River Edwards qualifies for state in 200 at the Harper

Arnie Leshin

By Arnie Leshin | April 24, 2017

Patrick Boyd is having a stellar senior season for Santa Fe Prep after trading in last year for a semester in another land. He’s arrived back as one of the better sprinters in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, and has qualified for state in all three.

He also tried the 800 distance last week and he’s also qualified for state in the high jump. Plus, he adds more speed to the relays teams.

With all this, his sophomore teammate Sam Sparks has been making news in a quieter way. In his second season on the team, he has already qualified for state in the three jumps – the high, the long, the triple.

Skipping the high jump at Saturday’s annual Mark Shumate Invitational run at Albuquerque High School, he dominated the other two, winning not only the long jump at a personal-best 20-5, but also having the second-best effort of 19-9.25 that he made on his final jump. His other attempts were 20-0 and 20-5, and he’s now fifth on the qualifying chart.

In the triple jump, he had the top flight of 39-6.5, and on his final try went 39-4, which was also second-best. His best of the campaign is 41-2 and he’s right near the top of the qualifying list.

“He’s a real good athlete,” said Prep head coach Tove Shere. “He has speed and also runs with our relay teams, he’s got that determination. He’s on the basketball team and just wants to dunk the ball.”

His height? Well, Shere wasn’t sure, maybe 6-1, 6-2, she said. His best in the high jump is 6-feet, the same as Boyd, and that’s the best height in 3A so far.

Meanwhile, Boyd won the 200 in 23 seconds flat. He did not do the 100, 400 or high jump. But he did run the 400 third leg on the relay team that finished fourth in the 1,600 sprint medley in 3:59.83.

The runner-up was Santa Fe Indian School in 3:57.33, with senior and state cross country champion Michael Tenorio on the 800 anchor leg. The Braves also picked up a third place in the 110 hurdles from senior Marc Riley in 17:64.

As for the 800 final, it was almost a photo finish when East Mountain senior Isiah Padilla nipped West Las Vegas junior Miguel Coca by two-tenths, 1:59.45 to 1:59.47. But Coca won the 1,600 in 4:34.26, with junior teammate James Emanuel second in 4:48.16.

In the team scoring, Albuquerque Hope Christian won with 92.5 and the Griffins were fifth with 28. Eleventh was Indian School with 14.

At the two-day annual Richard Harper Memorial at Albuquerque Academy, with junior sprinter Theodore Goujon dashing third in the 200 in 22.73 and eighth in the 100 in 10:99. He has qualified for state in both for the second straight season.

It was happy time for Demons’ sophomore River Edwards. He ran sixth in the 200 in 23:27, but his time was good enough to qualify him for state. Now Goujon will have company.

In the pole vault, Santa Fe High senior Mateo Martinez has already qualified for state, but went 11-6 in what was a three-way tie for sixth place

Capital High junior Lucas McNatt ran fourth in the 400 in 51:80, and took 10th in the high jump at 5-8. Here, there was seven going over at 5-8 from fifth to 11th place.

In the javelin, Demons’ junior Zach Russell had a best of 146-9 and placed 14th. In the discus, his 39- 7.5 was good for 21st.

The team title involved a tie between Albuquerque schools Volcano Vista and Academy, each with 73 points. Third was Rio Rancho Cleveland with 68. SFHS took 13th with six, and in 15th was Capital with four.

St. Michael’s was up at the annual Taos Tiger Relays. Victories went to its distance runners, senior Austin Luttrell and sophomore Justin Angel. Luttrell ran first in the 3,200 in 10:17.86, Angel paved the way in the 1,600 in 4:49.7 4. Both have qualified for state in these distances.

Fourth and fifth behind Luttrell were Horsemen sophomores Eli Steward (10:37.16) and Adrian Veruerte (10:44.8), respectively. Veruete also came in third in the 800 in 2:16.96, and fellow sophomore Justice Johnson was runner-up in the 400 in 51.69.

In the 200, St. Michael’s gained second place from sophomore Hayden Lee in 23:30, and in fourth was sophomore Sebastian Alcaraz in 23:78. His senior brother, Esteban Alcaraz, finished third in the 110 hurdles in the time of 16:44.

The Horsemen ran second in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 with times of 45:42 and 1:32.70, respectively, and in the 4 x 100 St. Michael’s also had its other quartet take seventh in 47.62, and in the 4 x 400, placed sixth (3:57.65), and in the 1,600 sprint medley, timed 4:38.22 for seventh.

In the shot put, Horsemen junior Jake Tetrault took the second spot with a throw of 38-8, and fifth at 32.5.21 was sophomore Luciano Ceritti.

In the triple jump was junior Joey Fernandez going 39.7. 5 for third place, and in the javelin he placed second with a throw of 132-1. In the high jump, junior Lincoln Barker came in sixth with a best of 5-8, and freshman Jaden Mifsud did the same in the discus with his toss of 89-7.

The team title went to host Taos with 141.2, and second was St. Michael’s with 83.

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