Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari girls track team nabbed a district title by the thinnest of margins at the Class 3A-4 district meet Friday at Dexter and took home seven individual district championships, including two each by Caylee Benavidez and Kyla Lopez.
The THS boys team finished fourth at the meet but took home four district titles, including two by long-distance runner Fernando Ureste.
The top two finishers at the district meet, plus those who met state-qualifying criteria, will compete at the state meet in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday.
The Lady Rattlers totaled 106 points at the district meet in Dexter, edging the host team’s 105 points. Ruidoso totaled 80 points, and New Mexico Military Institute compiled 73.
“Everybody competed well,” Tucumcari coach Wayne Ferguson said of the girls. “We had some people get some big points that really helped us.”
Ferguson cited Ayle Elebario finishing sixth in the discus, Aleeja Salvador third in the shot put and Jade Duplantis fourth in the 3,200-meter run in helping the Lady Rattlers gain critical points.
Benavidez won the shot put (28 feet) and discus (82-8 1/2). She also is a member of the runner-up 400-meter, 1,600-meter medley and 1,600-meter relay teams that also qualified for state.
Lopez took home titles in the 100-meter hurdles (0:18.54) and 300-meter hurdles races (0:55.58). She also finished third in the high jump.
Other district champs for Tucumcari:
— Alexus Lafferty in the javelin (107-5);
— Haisley Huffman in the triple jump (33-4) by more than 2 feet; she also finished runner-up in the long jump (15-5 1/2), where she won the Class 3A title last year;
— July Lafferty in the 400-meter dash (1:04.13); she also finished runner-up in the javelin (106-1) and was part of the runner-up 400, 800 and 1,600-meter relay teams.
Aubriana French, Cambree Benavidez, Kylie’Ann Rincones and Riley Knapp also are members of relay teams that qualified for state.
In individual events, French finished fourth and Knapp fifth in the 100-meter dash, and French also was fifth in the 200-meter dash and third in the triple jump.
For the THS boys, Ureste won the 3,200-meter run in 10:49.80 and the 1,600-meter run in 4:57.89, prevailing in both by almost 10 seconds.
Adan Diaz won the 400-meter dash in 0:53.49, prevailing by more than 2 1/2 seconds. He also finished third in the long jump.
Tucumcari’s 1,600-meter relay team of Daymion Urioste, Alijah Martinez, Diaz and Curtis Gonzales took home a title with a time of 3:43.83.
Xzander Garcia finished runner-up in the javelin with an effort of 131-8 and also qualified for state.
Luis Archuleta finished fourth and Diego Martinez sixth in the triple jump. Tyrus Jones was fifth in the discus, and Nolan Ryen was fifth in the shot put. Gonzales was fourth in the long jump. Jordan Rincones finished sixth in the 400-meter dash, and Dezmon Pacheco was fifth in the 800-meter run.
Ruidoso and NMMI tied for the boys district title with 150 1/2 points each. Dexter finished runner-up with 89 points, and Tucumcari totaled 70.
Ferguson said his boys 800-meter relay team just missed qualifying for state by finishing only 0.02 seconds behind runner-up Ruidoso.
Wolverines Invite
The Tucumcari girls 1,600-meter relay team finished second at the Wolverine Invitational last Tuesday, but its time qualified for the state meet.
The team of July Lafferty, Kylie’Ann Rincones, Caylee Benavidez and Cambree Benavidez finished in a time of 4:27.07. The state-qualifying standard for Class 3A was 4:28.96.
Leading up to the meet, the Lady Rattlers’ quartet was just three-tenths of a second from its goal.
Tucumcari’s 400-meter relay had qualified for the state meet earlier this season, as did July and Alexus Lafferty in the javelin throw.
Texico won the race in 4:24.51, and both Wolverines teams won the team title at the six-team event.
