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For St. Michael’s girls, it was an awesome state 3A track and field championship

By Arnie Leshin 
It was a start that St. Michael’s had prepared for when it took leading sprinters Rebekah Bagwell off its 4 x 100 girls relay team and Daniel Kupcho the same from the boys 4 x 100. 
 
But head coach Joey Fernando knew what he was doing when both quartets finished a close second in Saturday morning‘ start of the state track and field championships at University of New Mexico. 
 
It began after the Lady Horsemen and Horsemen ended Friday’s preliminaries with a stellar number of entries for the next-day championships, and with both their 4 x 400 winners heading in the dark to their two buses.
But the on day two, there was no concern after losing those two initial relays to Santa Fe Prep, none at all as the Lady Horsemen dominated the field with 128 points and the runner-up Griffins totaled among the girls with 73
Meanwhile, it was still a big day for junior Bagwell. She had a splendid day under the sun racing off with titles in the 100, 200, 400 and anchoring the 4 x 400 relay.
She won a close one in the 100 in 12.91, in the 200, she sped to a 26.45, and in the 400 she had to hold two off closers to triumph before running the last leg with a big stretch run of the 4 x 400 stick-pass wheb the foursome timed 4:12.91.
She was up on top of a triumphant team performance that reeled in a fourth straight team title. Thus, Bagwell picked up 26.50 for the day’s best individual points, two more than junior Jade Lujan, there was versatile sophomore Raylee Hunt doing her thing after claiming a second state cross country championship.
Here, she was Hunt topping the field in the 3,200, racing with 4 x 800 relay, and the victorious sprint medley relay, anchored in the 1,600, and took third in the 300 hurdles.
 
She was the usual, put her where she’s comfortable and she have a winning competitor, and even a state record-holder. There, she set a state mark in the that sprint medley last leg of 2:17.04.
 
About as impressive as last year when she won the 800, 1,600, and 3,200. 
 
Can’t forget senior Carmen Pacheco, winner of the shot put after a season when she was a spark for the basketball team, the softball team, and was a part of the state championship school choir. 
 
It was on her final throw of 32 feet, 3 inches that she was now a state shot put champion, too. 
 
Also on the 4 x 400 was senior Grace Sandoval, freshman Sophia Miera, and junior Jada Lujan. They ran 4:15.
 
Lujan also took the top spot in the 300 hurdles on a personal-best 46.79, with senior Jacquelin Gorman third. before that she ran off with the 100 hurdles, with Gorman fifth. In the pole vault, Gorman placed second. 
 
The sprint medley winners that joined Hunt were Sandoval, Miera and Gorman, so Lujan was on two of the victorious relays team to go with the two individual titles. 
 
The Lady Horsemen had just much too much for the likes of the others. They tallied 33 points via the relays, with solid races from the young Miera, one that included a tight anchor leg spot in the 4 x 200 in which she held on to win. 
 
“They were a very unselfish group,” said Fernandez, “We had great strength from all classes and they were all very determined, so I’m very proud of them.” 
 
In the opening race of the meet, the 4 x 100 relays, the winning Santa Fe Prep girls were senior Maddie Mena, sophomore Dahlia Reyes-Newell, sophomore Lisa Hirsch-Arnett, and freshman Marley Belyou. 

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