SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
It’s another chance time for me after a good sunny weather, 2-days filled with the New Mexico State track and field championships over the UNM oval in Albuquerque.
Other than the above, there were other reasons where I ran into unpleasant times, especially on Saturday’s championship day.
There was a stomach ache that came about in the early afternoon, and with that I lost a look at some of the events mostly won by defending champion St. Michael’s in both the girls and boys 3A that ran along with 1A and 2A.
Back in my new apartment in Santa Fe, my laptop still was out of business until Xfinity showed up Sunday afternoon to not only get my computer working, but also install my television.
Prior to that, I had no use of my laptop and had no television to watch for five days because Direct TV couldn’t install the satellite, so I’m now an Xfinity fan after Leo the technician did such a masterful job of handling this matter.
Cheers are welcome although I’m still unpacking after moving only a half-mile from my old address in Santa Fe, and now about a short walk from St. Michael’s.
As for the Lady Horsemen and Horsemen, they sure did their part at the competition, but in my original two stories written Sunday, I realize I made some mistakes, and so I thought it would be nice to patch this up some on mid-afternoon Monday.
It’s mostly a St. Michael’s story I need to turn to first, for the girls racked up 128 points, leaving runner-up Santa Fe Prep 75 points behind.
On the boys side, it was similar, St. Michael’s piling up 101 points and the second place Griffins scoring 54, and that was 47 points behind.
There’s also Prep that I will include as well as Pecos’ boys that finished fourth in 2A with 48 points, and Academy of Technology and The Classics’ girls runner-up in 2A.
For St. Michael’s, it was no doubt a combined team effort for head coach Joey Fernandez and his staff, but there was also senior Daniel Kupcho and junior Rebekah Bagwell as the individual standouts.
Kupcho, who has already committed to Ave Maria University on the west coach of South Florida, had a sprinters day Saturday. He arrived having qualified in the 100, 200, 400 and long jump, and knew he’d also be running anchor for the 4 x 400 relay, the final event.
No problem, he sped the 100 in 11.05, the 200 in a state-record 21.97, the 400 in 49.07, and added the long jump with a best of 21-9 and 1/4, and wound up his remarkable weekend by bringing the 4 x 400 home in 3:30.20.
In the individual races, he crossed the line with fiery emotion, a yippy like effect, and after the relay, he called out, “wow, 3:30.20”, which missed the school record by four seconds.
On the girls side, there was Bagwell. She, too, claimed the 100 (12.91), the 200 (26.43), the 400 (1:00.25), anchored the 4 x 400 (4:12.94) and placed fourth in the high jump at 4-8.
“I did have some close finishes,” she said, “but was strong enough to win them.”
Staying with the girls, sophomore Raylee Hunt, the two-time state cross country champion, turned in victories in the 800 (2:17.04) and 1,600 (5:12.33), and anchored the first place sprint medley and the winning 4 x 800.
Then there was junior Jada Lujan who swept the 100 and 300 hurdles in 16.90 and 46.79, respectively. She also placed fourth in the long jump with a best of 16-11 and a quarter.
She added a second in the high jump by going over at 5-feet and lost the top spot via more misses. In the same event, there was Santa Fe Prep junior Emery Kurth, daughter of Griffins’ athletic director Todd Kurth, taking fifth at 4-8.
In third came Santa Fe Indian School senior Kaydence Riley with a 4-10 best in the tight field.
And Kurth also had a second (32-8) in the triple jump and a third (17-0) in the long jump.
St. Michael’s claimed the 4 x 800 in 1:50.20, the 4 x 400 (4:12.92) and sprint medley (4:19.12).
The pole vault went to versatile senior Jacquelin Gorman, bound for UNM, at 10-6, and she also placed fifth in the triple jump at 30-11.6. Third in the pole vault was Gorman’s sophomore teammate Ellie Musolf going over at 7-6.
Multi-talented Lady Horsemen Carmen Pacheco came away with a first in the shot put (32-3) and fifth in the discus (86-9). She was a spark for the basketball team, the softball team, and was on the state championship choir.
In the opening event, the 4 x 100 relay, it was Santa Fe Prep winning with the quartet of senior Maddie Mena, sophomores Dahlia Reyes-Newell and Lisa Hirsch-Arnett and freshman Marley Belyou. They raced 51.71.
The Griffins was also runner-up in the 4 x 400 with the same foursome timed 4:16.69. Their sophomore Sophie Bair came in third in the 3,200 in 12:15.85.
Dahlia Reyes-Newell finished third in the triple jump with a best of 32 and a 1/4, and fifth in the long jump by going 16-8 and 3/4.
Tip-top day for the girls, with ATATC behind the outstanding feat of junior Charli Koseoglu, took the runner-spot in 2A with 48 points, 40 by Koseoglu who won the 100 in 11.54, the 200 in 25.85, the 100 hurdles in 16.24, and the javelin with a heave of 119-3.
The remainder of the ATATC points came on a second place in the 400 by junior Chanelle Jaeger in the time of 1:00.14.
Time for the St. Michael’s boys who joined in with Kupcho.
Sophomore Soren Annon added a first in the 110 hurdles in 15.41, and took second in the 300 in 40.93, and ran a leg on the 4 x 400 relay team.
St. Michael’s was tops in the 4 x 400 stick-pass as Kupcho made sure of in his exit run. The 4 x 100 went to Santa Fe Prep in 43.72 as did the 4 x 800 in 1.32.20.
The high jump winner was the Horsemen’s Cole Sandoval who went over at 5-10, and teammate Josh Sanchez placed fifth at 5-8.
The 3,200 brought a stellar effort from St. Michael’s junior Landen Sandoval in his initial track appearance following his first cross country season.
After the top two seeds raced off stride-by-stride and stayed that way, Sandoval moved into third place and remained there half a track behind. He did try to close the gap around the last turn but settled for third in 10.20.37, about 16 seconds behind the first two.
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In the triple jump, Santa Fe Indian School, topped the field at 41.9 and 3/4.
As for Pecos, its senior Malik Barrens stumbled in the 110 hurdles and took third in 16.05, but he returned to win the 300 with a very good start in 40.53. He tacked on 4th in the 100 in 11.54.
“I figured, heck,” he said, “After four seasons of basketball, I’d like that first win in track and was happy to get it.”
Zachary Fox of the Panthers ran fifth in the 800 in 2:07.2, and sixth was teammate Lorenzo Ortega in 2:07.24. In the 1,600, Pecos’ Elijah Lujan came in fifth in 4:53.22.
In the sprint medley relay, the Panthers received a huge anchor leg from Lujan to finish first in 3:47.60. They came in third in the 4 x 400 thanks to a stellar anchor from Fox and clocked 3:38.03. In the 4 x 800, Pecos placed third in 9:00.66.
That’s it, the wrap-up a second time from me. Hope it was more informing in one big package.
