The Bulldog and Lady Bulldog track teams headed into Friday’s District 4-AAAAA Meet in Lovington with two primary goals in mind: improve and add to their state contingents.
A district championship for the Lady ‘Dogs was a confidence-boosting fringe benefit, as the Artesia girls topped second-place Roswell High by 51-and-a-half points. The ‘Dogs, meanwhile, were just edged by three-and-a-half points by Lovington.
“We had a good meet,” head coach Rex Henderson said Saturday. “I was real proud of the effort and what we were able to do.”
With smaller overall state dockets than they’ve had in recent years going into the district event, the teams were on a mission to add to their lists by way of placement qualifications – at district, those finishing first or second in an event advance to state automatically.
The Artesia athletes succeeded in adding several seats to the bus to Albuquerque, qualifying three new events by mark and 14 by place. Their performances Friday were made all the more impressive by the fact they were battling 25- to 30mph winds, which, particularly in the running events, resulted in times not commensurate to effort.
The Bulldogs accounted for all three qualifications by mark, with Ethan Duff topping the field in the long jump (21’8”) and Caleb Brewer and Marcus Bramwell finishing as runners-up in the triple jump (41’8”) and discus (140’8”) respectively.
A number of athletes also re-qualified for state, including Justin Houghtaling and Christian Lopez in the javelin (first place, 156’8” and second place, 148’7” respectively); Bramwell in the shot put (first place, 46’); Lopez in the high jump (second place, 6’); Kale Mauritsen in the pole vault (second place, 12’6”, a season best) and 300 hurdles (second place, 42.50); the medley relay team of David Barlow, Brewer, Alex Ruiz and Felipe Salamanca (second place, 3:52.07); Chandler Youtsey in the 300 and 110 hurdles (first place, 42.33 and first place, 17.04 respectively); and the 400-meter relay team of Tyler Greenwood, Kameron Aguilar, Youtsey and Barlow (second place, 45.16).
Qualifying by place were Eliazar Granillo in the 3200-meter run (second place, 10:48.47); Salamanca in the 800 run (second place, 2:10.54); the 800-meter relay team of Greenwood, Aguilar, Duff and Mauritsen (second place, 1:34.74); and the 1600-meter relay group of Youtsey, Aguilar, Austin Lasater and Brewer (second place, 3:37.12).
“Coming up three points short was disappointing for the boys, I know, but they competed hard,” Henderson said. “We had a lot of guys give a pretty incredible effort. We had guys going above and beyond what they’ve done in the past, and I was pleased to see that type of effort.
“Lovington had a pretty good squad, and we just quite didn’t get it done. But it was no lack of effort on our kids’ part. They put up a good fight.”
On the girls’ side, the Lady Bulldogs posted four re-qualifications on the meet, courtesy of Tori Collins in the shot put (first place, 36’5”); Victoria Acosta in the 300 hurdles (first place, 48.34); Elliot Harrison in the high jump (second place, 4’8”); and Raina Wesson in the 400-meter dash (first place, 1:02.27).
The Lady ‘Dogs had 10 qualifications by place, including Harrison in the 100 hurdles (first place, 17.74); Lauren Robson and Madilynn Moon in the 800 run (first and second place respectively, 2:38.82 and 2:40.36); Acosta in the high jump (first place, 4’10”); Emilee Kennemur and Moon in the pole vault (first and second place respectively, 8’ and 8’); Erica Reyes in the javelin (second place, 102’1.5”); the 800-meter relay team of Acosta, Jailyn Ruiz, McKinley Taylor and Camerin Molina (second place, 1:53.95); the medley relay group of Ruiz, Taylor, Cameron Keese and Robson (first place, 4:43.70); and the 1600-meter relay team of Acosta, Molina, Ruiz and Wesson (first place, 4:16.60).
“The girls have just done a great job of coming together as a team over the course of the season,” Henderson said. “I thought it was going to be kind of close with the Roswell High girls, but we ended up winning convincingly, so that was exciting for them and a testament to the work they’ve put in.”
The tracksters will now have a few days to prepare for the Class 5A State Meet, set for May 13-14 at the Great Friends of UNM Track and Field Complex in Albuquerque. The teams are set to depart for state at 12:45 p.m. Thursday from Bulldog Bowl.
