City of Vision had two track meets to see

The Sandias form a nice backdrop for Storm pole-vaulter Logan McKinney.

The Cleveland and Rio Rancho high school track & field teams played host for large meets last weekend, with the annual Storm relays taking place Friday at CHS and the annual Rio Rancho Invitational running Saturday.

Both meets were contested under sunny skies, with breezes that probably slowed runners heading into them.

At the Storm Relays, schools totaled scores/distances of three or four contestants to determine which team won, with multiple heats taking place to field all the runners — with 18 schools traveling to Rio Rancho for the meet.

Storm Relays
The Storm girls were knotted for fifth place in their half of the meet, behind the 1-2-3 finishes of Alamogordo, Albuquerque Academy and Piedra Vista; Volcano Vista was fourth.

“Our girls were able to dominate in the throwing events,” said CHS girls coach Carla Chavez. “We were able to win all three throwing events with Jaylee Gandert, Isabelle Carrica, Allyson Frank and Kennedy Ulmer.

“These ladies stepped up to the challenge of being a relay team and ended with great results; Jaylee was also able to qualify for state in the javelin as well. Our distance girls, led by Leah Futey along with Jackie Crump and Marina Weidemen, were also able to come out in first place in the 3×1,600.

“All of the ladies had a great meet,” Chavez said.

Individually for the Storm, Ulmer was first in the discus and shot, and Gandert won the javelin. Ashley Dannenberg of CHS had the best pole vault of the afternoon.

The Storm boys dominated their half of the meet, not only winning it, but also accumulating more points than the second- and third-place teams, Organ Mountain and Volcano Vista, combined.

Cleveland won three sprints and two of the three distance runs: Evan Wysong won the 100-meter dash, Koen Biggs won the 200 and Brayden Ford won the 400; Caden Nunn won the 800 and Caiden Dawes won the 3,200. The Storm settled for eighth in the 1,600 with Cody Toya.

Cleveland won three relays — the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 — and was third in the medley.

Defending 110-high hurdles state champ Antonio Avila won that event, with Wysong taking first in the long jump, Logan McKinney soaring to first in the pole vault and Dominic Velasquez winning the javelin.

Nic Trujillo was second in the triple jump, Charles Sanchez was second in discus and Camryn Bannerman was runner-up in the shot.

Cole Savage was third in the high jump.

Rio Rancho Invite
Fifteen boys teams and 10 girls squads scored Saturday, with three teams finishing in the top three for both genders: Host Rio Rancho, Los Alamos and La Cueva ran 1-2-3 in the boys’ meet; Los Alamos, La Cueva and Rio Rancho were 1-2-3 in the girls’ meet.

The Rams girls had one individual winner, Julia Espinosa, who tied for first in the shot put.

The Rams girls had four runner-up finishes: Gracey Lovato in the 1,600 (less than 1/100th of a second behind the winner); Loryn Trujillo in the 3,200, Camryn Smith in the long jump and Georgia Salata in the javelin, where her javelin missed first place by a mere 6 inches.

Finishing third for RRHS were Danika Marquez in the 3,200, Ryanne Huntington in the shot and the 4×100 and 4×800 relay teams.

Dawson Gunn and Cayden Romero were the RRHS male winners, with Gunn winning the 800 and 1,600, and Romero winning the shot put.

RRHS had four runner-up finishes: Anthony Heavyrunner in both hurdles events, plus the 4×100 and medley relay teams.

Finishing third for the Rams were Devin Rice in the 100 and 200, Logan Hoyer in the 400, Collyn Tomoyose in the 3,200, Morgan Presser in discus, plus the 4×200 and 4×800 relay teams.

On April 11, the Rams’ Sterling Glenn won the shot-put event at the Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions in Albuquerque with a heft of 43 feet, 2 inches; and placed second in the discus (125-9).

… The Rams’ boys and girls teams finished first Thursday at the Wildcat relays in Clovis, where the Storm girls were third. The Storm boys competed instead at a meet at Sandia Prep.

… On Friday and Saturday, the Storm and Rams squads will compete in the annual Richard Harper Memorial Meet at Albuquerque Academy.