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Lady Horsemen won their third state title in a row

By Arnie Leshin 
Taylor Bacon, who graduated from Princeton University in 2019 and did some time with the Tigers’ cross country and track and field teams, also spent five years on top of the heap running for Desert Academy, even set numerous records.
But when reached to find out that one of her state 3A records was broken at Saturday’s state championships at the University of New Mexico, she got a kick out of it.

“Oh sure,” she said, “I know I set some records in cross country and on the track, but I didn’t keep track of them once I got to college. But this was nice to hear.”
It was St. Michael’s freshman phenom Raylee Hunt who erased Bacon’s 800 record, turning in a time of 2:19.75 to go with her wins in sweeping the 800, 1.600 and 3,200.
Only in the 300 hurdles did the state cross champion miss out, that and settling for fifth place in the triple jump. But in the longer hurdles, it was one trip midway over the hurdles that slowed her down and brought her fifth place as sophomore teammate Jada Lujan won the event in 48:58.
In the 100 hurdles, Lujan came close to a sweep in placing second in 17:50 behind victorious Socorro senior Kilee Mounyo. Right behind her in third was junior teammate Jacqueline Gorman, who timed 17.91, and fourth was Santa Fe Prep junior Katherine Bair in 18:13.
In the 1,600, Hunt ran 5:24.10 in a close race against Santa Fe Indian School freshman Destiny Chino, who clocked 5:30.37. Lujan also ran third leg on the Lady Horsemen foursome that won the meet’s final event, the 4 x 400 relay, in 4:14.58, with the rest of the quartet composed of junior Grace Sandoval, senior Milene Keene, and sophomore Rebekah Bagwell.
Second was Santa Fe Prep with perhaps the youngest relay team of 8th-grader Marley Bekyeu, freshman Dahlia Reyes-Newell, Katherine Bair, and freshman Helen Desmond.
In the 1,600 sprint medley, St. Michael’s finished second in 4:38.93, about 10 seconds behind victorious Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical Prep. In the 4 x 100, it was third place for the Lady Horsemen in 51.96, and fourth in the 4 x 200 in 1:50.54, with Bagwell the anchor on all four relay teams, and Keene and Sandoval on three of the quartets.
Fourth in the 4 x 100 were the Griffins in 52:22. In the 4 x 800, they took third in 10:39.93 with an 8th-grader, two freshmen, and a junior. Santa Fe Indian School came in fifth in the sprint medley in 4:45.39 and the 4 x 800 in 11:08.19.
Keene, the goalkeeper for the state-championship soccer team and who kicked punts and field goals for the football team, dashed third in the 200 in 27.83. Gorman ran a leg on the 4 x 200 and took 7th in the 300 hurdles. Griffins’ Reyes-Newell sped to the runner-up spot in the 100 meters. 
 
In the team scoring, it was the third-straight state title for the Lady Horsemen. 
 
In 2A, Pecos senior Savannah Ortiz followed up her district win by also claiming the long jump here with a best of 16-06.50.  In the 100 hurdles, Academy of Technology and The Classics sophomore Charli Koseglu came in first in 16.51, and she added the 100 meters and clocked 12.77, but settled for second place in the 300 hurdles at 49.77. 
 
Junior teammate Chanelle Jaeger took the 400 in 1:01.02, and came in third with a time of 13.13 in the 100 dash, and was runner-up in the 200 in 26.81, with Ortiz sixth in the 100 in 13.69.  
 
After losing the Friday 3,200 by going out to fast and being caught to place second  in 12:57.60, ATATC senior Josette Gurule did claim the 800 and 1,600, running the 800 in 2:28.73, and the 1,600 in 5:39.51. Fifth in the 800 was Pecos junior Kristina Ragland who timed 2:44.75. 
 
And with Ragland on the anchor leg, the Panthers took fourth in the 1,600 sprint medley relay in 4:55.27. The Phoenix finished first in the team scoring.

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