Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari High School junior Khobie Salvador poses with the second- and sixth-place medals he won in the shot put and discus throw, respectively, at the Class 3A Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque.
Tucumcari junior Khobie Salvador finished runner-up in the state shot put competition, becoming the highest-placing THS athlete during Saturday's Class 3A Track and Field Championships.
Salvador missed a state title by just a few inches. He threw the shot 43 feet, 9 1/2 inches during his best effort at the UNM Track-Soccer Complex in Albuquerque.
Navarro Burnside of Crownpoint bested him with a throw of 44 feet, 1 inch for the first-place medal.
Salvador also finished sixth in the discus throw with an effort of 109-3. Leon Sutulov of Sandia Prep won the event with a throw of 130-5.
Tucumcari coach Wayne Ferguson said Salvador performed "fairly well" in the shot put but labored during the discus competition.
"He struggled with his technique and form," he said. "It was maybe a little bit of nerves and maybe his sore elbow."
Salvador had strained the elbow in his throwing arm during a regular-season meet at Santa Rosa earlier this month.
Other Tucumcari athletes who competed at the Class 3A meet were:
• Junior Delilah Acosta, who finished fifth in the discus (84-2) and eighth in the shot put (27-11);
• Junior Andrew Henderson-Clark, fifth in the javelin throw (134-3);
• Junior Elena Gutierrez, ninth in the 100-meter hurdles (0:20.55) and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles (0:54.15);
• Eighth-grader Caylee Benavidez, ninth in the 800-meter run (2:48.87);
• The girls 800-meter relay team of Aubrianna French, Kylie Ann Rincones, Gutierrez and Benavidez, ninth in a time of 2:00.91;
• The girls 1,600-meter relay team of French, Rincones, Gutierrez and Benavidez, eighth in 4:46.21.
Ferguson said several of his athletes logged personal bests at the state meet.
"That's all you can ask for," he said.
Ferguson in particular praised the efforts of Acosta in the discus and Henderson-Clark in the javelin, whom he said were not expected to place in those events.
St. Michael's won both the boys and girls team titles at the meet, which was run during a heat wave where the temperature reached 98 degrees, according to data from the National Weather Service.
