Pecos senior Rolando Sandoval dashed across the finish line first in the 100 and 200 meters

Rolando Sandoval came away with a sweep of the sprints and placed second in the long jump in in the Pecos senior’s final state 2A track and field championships Friday at the University of New Mexico complex.

Following a stellar outdoor season, Sandoval sped 11.28 in the 100 meters and 22.21 in the 200. In the long jump, his best was 21.08.50.

The Panthers, coming off their second girls state basketball championship, finished fourth in the girls team scoring with 46 points, with Rehoboth Christian, whose boys won the state basketball title, wrapping this one up with 91 points, nine more than Academy of Technology and The Classics, and with Cloudcroft taking third with 73.

Sandoval led the way for the Pecos boys coming in third with 47 points, while Hagerman dominated the field with 127.50 points, Panthers’ District 6 rival Santa Rosa second with 75, and way back in 14th place was ATC with seven points.

There were 20 schools competing on this day. On Thursday, 1A had the complex to itself, and Saturday is 3A day, with all of the schools having the same meet schedule.Next weekend has 4A competing on Friday and 5A on Saturday.

These were all shortened championships with limited qualifiers after last year’s was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It was also the state finale for senior Vanessa Dominguez, who won the 3,200 her the sophomore year, but had to settle for second place behind ATC senior Maggie Rittmeryer, who clocked 12:42.86, and Dominguez crossed the line in 13:01.60. In the 1,600, Trinidad Colorado Junior College-bound Dominguez came in 3rd in 10:03.90.

The Panthers did not win any of the other 20 events, but had several runners-up and third and fourth places. In the 4 x 100 relay, the boys ran second in 45.42 in a stirring duel with Santa Rose, which won in 45.29, with Barrens racing the second leg for the Panthers and Sandoval the anchor. The girls clocked 53.53 to finish third.

In the long jump, third place went to Pecos senior Savannah Ortiz with a best of 15-11.50. In the shot put, it was Panthers junior Darik Ortiz coming in fourth with a best throw of 39-04.

In the 300 meter hurdles, Pecos sophomore Malik Barrens took second in the boys event. In the 800, Panthers senior Kiranna Quintana came in third in 2:41, and in the 4 x 800 relay, the Pecos girls placed second in 10:45.38, with ATC slightly ahead of them in the time of 10:37.55.

In the boys 4 x 800, the Panthers again took third place by running 9:32.93. And in the 4 x 200, it was yet another third for the girls in 1:56.11. The girls sprint medley went to ATC in 4:45.85, with Pecos 5th in 4:53.63.

Freshman Charli Koseoglu of ATC had a good day by finishing second in the girls 100 meters in 13.35, with freshman teammate Chanelle Jaeger fourth in 13.51. In the 300 hurdles, Koseoglu ran fourth in 51.90, in the 200, she came in third in 27.75, with Jaeger fifth in 27.77.