SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
St. Michael’s Jocelyn Fernandez winds up five stellar years of athletics by breaking the state 4A javelin record and earning her final gold medal in Saturday’s track and field championships at UNM
Lady Horsemen finish second by four points to Albuquerque Hope Christian and score in 11 events
By Arnie Leshin, Santa Fe Today
How else can New Mexico’s top girl’s high school athlete finish her stellar five years of versatility?
No problem, for St. Michael’s senior Jocelyn Fernandez knew the way to bow out was to set a state javelin record and than climb to the top step of the podium at the track and field championships at the University of New Mexico Saturday.
How could it be any better? This was her fifth year in the event, finishing second, first, second and second again, and now she packed together all this experience by dominating the field with a monmouth throw of 140-01 to wipe out the previous best of 136-4 in 4A. The overall best in state is the 142-0 thrown in 6A, in 5A, it’s 141-6.
“I didn’t do any throwing the whole week,” she said, “only did some running. But I was able to get away some really good throws.”
That she did, with none of the nine others in the field surpassing any of her throws, and she saved the best for last only to break the record. Besides that throw, she went 133-10, 125-05 and 122-09. The runner-up, Danielle Villanueva, of Portales, had a best of 118-04.
“It was really a great way to exit,” said Fernandez, who has not currently decided on her college choice. “My best before this was 129-0, and I had no problem topping that not once, but twice.”
She also competed in the discus, but it wasn’t her favorite event and she didn’t make the podium in this one. Ask her about the disc, and she tells it like it is.
“Oh, my,” she said, “the discus is really hard to do. It’s different feel, a harder task.”
So it winds down for the 5-fot-7 athlete whose dad, Joey Fernandez, is head coach of the football and track and field teams. So in her senior year, her father gave in to her demands and put her on his football roster.
And she played, she scored a touchdown, and in one game connected on 8-of-8 PAT kicks. She finished up with 11-of-12, the lone miss a block against Las Vegas Robertson in a home district game. She didn’t run the ball much, but did make some catches, and played some defense. There was an injury or two, but she healed and made her way back on the field.
She was so talented, determined and knowledgeable of the game, she was strongly supported by the team and the coaches and the St. Michael’s fans.
She also played goal keeper and the field in soccer, was the team high-scorer and best player in basketball, setting a school-record with 46 points her junior season. Then there was softball, which she shared in the spring with track and field, and she played the outfield.
The Lady Horsemen had to settle for second place in the team scoring, compiling 58 points to Albuquerque Hope Christian’s 52. They scored in 11 of the 19 events.
They qualified for the four relay finals, taking sixth in the 4 x 100, second in the 4 x 200, second in the 1,600 sprint medley, and first in the final event, the 4 x 400 in 4:03.81, and ran with senior Holly Kastendicek, sophomore Janai Clayton, senior Ellie Breeden, and junior Lauren Chafins.
Chafins also finished second in the 400 in 57.20 where she was the defending champion, but that went to Ruiodso senior Shallom Keller in a blazing 55.59, and Keller also won the 100 and 200.
“I ran well,” Chafins said, “but she (Keller) was just better than me.”
Clayton sprinted the final yards to grab fourth place in the 800 in 2:27. She was limping after the finish, but survived to run some relay legs. She came in sixth in last year’s 800 final.
In the 400, where the first three ran under one minute, Breeden ran third in 58.88. Chafins added a sixth place in the long jump and senior Amanda Marbough finished third in the shot put and fourth in the discus.
In the 800, Santa Fe Indian School freshman, Iris Emery, ran third in 2:27.64, with Clayton taking fourth in 2:27.91.
But the spotlight belonged to Fernandez, kind of the way it’s gone since she first stepped on the playing field.
