Santa Fe Prep boys pick up a first, second and third

Retiring Griffins head coach Tove Shere was happy with her boys, and the girls hoisted the championship trophy

By Arnie Leshin 

Sam Sparks qualified in five events for the state 3A track and field championships, but the three that brought him a first, second and third got the Santa Fe Prep junior on the podium.

He won gold in the triple jump, silver in the high jump, bronze in the long jump, but he scratched in the 200 and 400.

The gold in the high jump went to fellow Griffin junior Sean Coles on Friday’s first day. Coles cleared 6-2 and both ran relay legs on the three that qualified. In the 4 x 100, the Griffins ran third in 44:34, in the 4 x 200 and 4 x 400, they came in sixth.  .

Academy of Technology and The Classics only qualified for the 4 x 100 and came in fifth.

Phoenix junior Ahbedon Whiteeagle ran the 100 and 200, and Desert Academy junior Jakob Rasmussen the 400 and 800. Both made bids to win, but were beaten in tight finishes.

In the 100, Whiteeagle sped to a second place tie in 11:37, the same as junior Ernesto Martinez of Espanola McCurdy, but it was a sweep in the sprints for junior Gustavo Macias of Dexter when he won the 100 in 11:34 and the 200 in 22:76.

The 200 was also close. Here, Whiteeagle was on Macias’ heels but fell short with a second place 22:82. It was a race to the finish in both sprints.

Rasmussen, too, was close to finishing first both times. In the 800 won by senior Tyler Gibson of Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical in 1:58.43, Rasmussen made a late bid after the last turn, but lost by a few steps in a second place 2:01.62.

In the 400, he dashed 52:03 and was on the heels of eventual winner Lawrence Wyatt, a sophomore from Capitan who timed 51:04 and had to hold off Rasmussen.

ATC senior Cole Ferguson finished in both hurdles.

Dexter scored 71 points to top the 18-school field. Prep pieced together 32 for fourth, ATC was 12thwith 15, and in 14th with 10 points all scored by Rasmussen was Desert Academy with 10.

“I was happy with our boys,” said retiring Santa Fe Prep head coach Tove Shere in her final time in that role after 21 years and four girl’s championships, “and get to see the boys race the 4 x 400.”