Elementary students take part in annual track and field day

The annual Tucumcari Elementary School Track and Field Day event was an overall success, according to its coordinator Gary Hittson.

Hittson, along with teaching at the elementary school, also coaches high school cross country, track and basketball.

He said he has been running the elementary track event for 10 years, and "it was going on before I got here, so it's been going on a while."

The even is a kind of end of school year celebration in which third-fifth graders compete in various obstacle courses and races. Two new events this year were a kick ball tournament and the scooter board races.

Hittson said the kick ball tournament moved a little sluggishly in its first year due to weather, the usually housing down of students by the Tucumcari Fire Department was canceled due to the weather turning cold later in the day.

"Overall, I think it was a good day. All of the kids seemed happy and overall, exhausted," he said with a laugh. "It was a long, tiring day, but it was fun. Fun was had by all."

And it couldn't have happened without a lot of volunteers, Hittson said.

"I would like to thank all of the volunteers who helped. A lot of the high school kids came over and helped," he said.

Track and field day events:

400 Relay first place winners

n Third grade: Mrs. Kelly Keer's Class

n Fourth grade: Mrs. Pat Sherwood's class

n Fifth grade: Mrs. Monica Filpi's class

800 Relay first place winners

n Third grade: Mrs. Kim Rich's class

n Fourth grade: Mrs. Sherwood's class

n Fifth grade: Mrs. Filpi's class

Shuttle Relay first place winners

n Third grade: Mr. Ernie Rogers' class

n Fourth grade: Mrs. Sherwood's class

n Fifth grade: Mrs. Filpi's class