Good day at the Saturday Jaguar Track and Field Invitational

It’s that back-to-back track and field weekends when there’s not much traveling to do for the Santa Fe area high schools.

This past Saturday, it was the annual Jaguar Invitational at Capital High, while this Saturday has the annual Capital City Invitational held at Santa Fe High, with Jags’ head coach Rita Vigil serving as host at Capital, followed by Demons/Demonettes head coach Peter Graham the host at Santa Fe High.

In the girls competition at Capital, it was stellar performances turned in by Academy of Technology and The Classics senior Josette Gurule, junior Chanelle Jaeger, and sophomore Charli Koseoglu. The same for Santa Fe Prep sophomore Emery Kurth, the daughter of Prep athletic director Todd Kurth, and in the five relays, Santa Fe Indian School won three and Santa Fe High two.

As for the boys, ATATC senior Joey Gurule topped the field with a pair of mid and distance victories, Pecos’ Malik Barrens excelled on the track by virtue of his triumph in the 300 hurdles, and in the field portion he placed third in the triple jump. And it was two runner-up finishes for Santa Fe High senior Tanner Black, both versus Gurule in the 800 and 1,600. In the relays, the Demons won four and Espanola Valley one.

Ladies first, and it was another good day for Koseoglu after she was a perfect 4-for-4 at Santa Fe High’s recent Golden Spike Classic.

This time, the versatile athlete who is a starter on the basketball team and a member of the state 2A cross country champions, raced away from the 100 hurdles field in 17:11, with Demonettes’ Miriam Bechtel second in 18:02. Then she turned to the javelin to take second behind Santa Fe Prep’s Lauren McHorse in a reversal of the finish at the Golden Spike, with McHorse winning this time at 99-11 and Koseoglu’s best was 92-10. Third place went to Santa Fe Indian School se0nior Cameron Connors (84-9), who also placed third in the shot put (27-4) won by St. Michael’s junior Camen Pacheco with a 28-5 throw.

Gurule ran first in the 800 and timed 2:25.74, and also paced the field in the 1,600 and clocked 5:29.64 as second place went to Indian School freshman Destiny Chino in 5:46.5.

Then there was Jaeger, the starting point guard on the Phoenix basketball team, and she raced to the 400 finish to win in 1:02. In the 200, she settled for the runner-up spot in 27.77, and also in the triple jump (31-5) won by Kurth in what is her initial season with the Griffins’ track and field program, and she won with a final jump of 32 feet. Kurth also had a second place in the long jump at 15-5 behind victorious Savannah Ortiz of Pecos’ 15-11.5. And she wasn’t done yet in running 51.97 for third place in the 300 hurdles. Ortiz also placed second in the 100 dash in 13:34.

The high jump went to Kaydence Riley of Indian School by going over at 4-8 and winding up with a tie against ATATC’s Sri Burkman, but winning on fewer misses. In the pole vault, the best in the pack was the Demonettes’ Leandra Motelef as she went up and over at nine feet.

Santa Fe High and Indian School dominated the relays, with the Demonettes first in the 4 x 100 in 54.39, and the 4 x 200 in 1:55.1, while the Braves won the 4 x 400 in 4:52.30, the 4 x 800 in 11:52.33, and the sprint medley in 5:00.91.

The boys had the other Gurule, Joey, claim the 800 in 2:10.56, and the 1,600 in 4:54.94. Then came Black who timed 4:58.50

in the 1,600 and 2:12.84 in the 800.

The top spot in the high jump went to St. Michael’s senior Derek Martinez with a best of 5-6. He wound up with a tie with ATATC’s Brennan Trujillo, but won on fewer misses.

In the javelin, the winner was Indian School’s Fenyx Moringdove with a heave of 143.25. In the pole vault, it was victorious Angel Mcemcroe of the Phoenix with a best of 8 feet for first place. Teammate Braden Frankland took the triple jump a 39-6 and runner-up in the shot put was the Panthers’ Derik Ortz with a toss of 39-4.

The 110 hurdles had Pecos’ Israel Villigas take the top spot in 18-93, and the 400 had his teammate Andres Archuleta cross the finish first in 1:00.23.

In the relays, the Demons took the 4 x 100 in 45:64, the 4 x 200 in 1:36.25, the 4 x 400 in 3:40.76, and Espanola Valley the sprint medley in 3:57.82, with Pecos next in 4:03.0. Indian School was 15 seconds behind Santa Fe High in the 4 x 400.

“The will to WIN means nothing without the will to TRAIN” — RITA VIGIL, Capital head coach