Six crowned district champions

SANTA ROSA - Six Tucumcari athletes were crowned district champions Saturday during the District 4-3A meet at Santa Rosa High School, including three who won two championships apiece.

Khobie Salvador, a junior, continued his seasonlong strong performances in the discus throw and shot put. He hurled the shot 43 feet, more than 13 feet longer than his next-best competitor. He threw the discus 116-11 1/2, more than 40 feet longer than the runner-up.

Based on his best performances this season, Salvador is seeded first in both events in Class 3A.

Delilah Acosta, a junior, won girls titles by also sweeping the discus and shot competitions. Acosta threw the discus 76-7, about 16 feet longer than the No. 2 competitor. In the shot, she hurled it 28-1, more than five feet longer than the runner-up.

Elena Gutierrez, a junior, also became a double champion for Tucumcari, winning the 100-meter hurdles race in 19.84 seconds and 300-meter hurdles in 0:57.34.

Other Tucumcari district champions:

• Andrew Henderson-Clark, a junior who threw the javelin slightly longer than 132 feet. He also finished runner-up in the triple jump and was third in the 200-meter dash at 0:26.25.

• Manny Hernandez, a junior who won the 3,200-meter run in 12:15.74. He finished runner-up in the 1,600-meter run.

• Caylee Benavidez, an eighth-grader who won the 800-meter run in 2:49.74. She finished runner-up in the 200-meter dash in 0:31.44 and third in the discus in 58-5 1/2.

Salvador, Acosta, Gutierrez, Benavidez, Henderson-Clark, Aubrianna French and Kylie Ann Rincones learned Sunday evening they qualified for the Class 3A track championships Saturday at the University of New Mexico Track-Soccer Complex in Albuquerque. The top 16 performances in each event were chosen for the state meet.

Buoyed by their strong performances in the field events, the Tucumcari boys and girls each finished second in the team standings at the district meet.

Dexter won the boys team title with 117 points. Tucumcari totaled 57 points and New Mexico Military Institute 46.

Dexter also captured the girls team title with 184 points. Tucumcari finished with 63 points, and NMMI totaled 26.

Considering Tucumcari's relatively low number of athletes this season in track and field, coach Wayne Ferguson said he was mostly satisfied with his athletes at Santa Rosa.

"With what we had, we competed well," Tucumcari coach Wayne Ferguson said. "We a lot of PRs (personal records) in a lot of stuff."

Ferguson said he had hoped for a few more points from his girls team, but Rincones was unable to compete because of knee tendonitis. That kept the Lady Rattlers from running in several relays.

"We kinds of missed an opportunity there," he said.

Other Tucumcari competitors at the meet:

• Ricardo Martinez, a junior who finished third in the 800-meter run in 2:48.94 and fifth in the 1,600 in 7:18.94;

• Nolan Ryen, a freshman who was third in the shot put (27-9) and discus (72-9 ?);

• Eighth-grader Diego Martinez, who was third in the triple jump (31-0 ?);

• Eighth-grader French, who was second in the 100-meter dash (0:14.34), 400-meter dash (1:09.94), long jump (12-11) and triple jump (26-6).

The meet Saturday began that morning with overcast skies. Clouds began to clear by noon, and temperatures reached 90 degrees by the time the meet ended in the afternoon. Several athletes clearly wilted from the heat. Temperatures, however, were a far cry from a Class 1A district meet Thursday in Melrose, where the thermometer reached 103.