The Belen Eagles girls track and field team captured the district championship last weekend, while the boys came home with second place.
The Valencia Jaguars grabbed a couple of individual wins as well during the meet.
On the girls side, the Lady Eagles scored six individual wins and four wins in combined team efforts.
In the 3,200-meter run, Lisette Sanchez took home first place with a time of 11:57.80. Sara Martinez finished third in the same event.
In the 100-meter dash, Madison Cox led a 1-2-3 Belen finish, ahead of Sara Rodriguez and Selena Frequez.
Martinez led another 1-2-3 Belen finish, this time in the 800-meter run. Sofia Castillo and Jadarose Wright finished second and third, respectively, in the event.
Sanchez took home the win in the 1,600-meter run. Martinez came home fourth in the run.
Anida Clayton delivered a win for the Lady Eagles in shot put, with a throw of 29 feet, 6 1/2 inches.
Sara Rodriguez added the long jump title to the ledger, with a jump of 15 feet, 3 inches. Valencia’s Melissa Orozco took runner-up, while Belen’s Alisha Tuttle took third in the event for Belen.
In team wins, the Lady Eagles won the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 51.65 seconds, edging out Valencia’s 52.85 seconds. The girls also collected the win in the 4×200-meter relay, winning by seven seconds over St. Pius.
The Lady Eagles won the 1,600-sprint medley with a time of 4 minutes and 37.74 seconds.
In the 4×400-meter relay, the Lady Eagles won by almost 8 seconds over second-place finishing Valencia.
Belen finished third in the 4×800-meter relay behind Highland and St. Pius.
Valencia’s Jaiden Montgomery took home top honors in the high jump event, edging out Jamie Williams, of Belen, and her own teammate, Sonja Lopez.
Danette Heneghan led a 1-2-3 finish for the Lady Jaguars in the javelin throw. Heneghan topped Meadow Storms and Morgan Sanchez to win.
The Lady Jaguars added the pole vault to the victory books, as Isabella Vigil won the event.
Morgan Sanchez was victorious in the 200-meter dash. Sanchez beat Belen’s Selena Fresquez and Madison Cox in the win.
Sanchez also got the better of Belen’s Jadarose Wright in the 300-meter hurdles, beating Wright by three-tenths of a second.
After the meet, Sara Rodriguez, of Belen, was named the Female District Athlete of the Year.
On the boys side, Belen would take home three individual wins and a team combined win, while Valencia got three individual wins.
The Eagles saw Nathan Sanchez beat teammate Evert Tuttle to win the 100-meter dash.
Sanchez took the 200-meter dash over Valencia’s Ali Abdullah and teammate Tuttle.
Tuttle won the 400-meter dash over St. Pius’ Chris Coash and Belen teammate Joseph O’Brien.
For Valencia, Abdullah redeemed himself by winning the high jump over teammate Victor Ramirez. Abdullah also won the long jump, besting Nathan Sanchez, of Belen.
The New Mexico State High School Track and Field Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, May 13-14, at the UNM Track and Soccer Complex in Albuquerque.
Adam Evarts is a graduate of the University of New Mexico where he studied journalism and history. He has lived in Valencia County most of his life. Adam covers sports for the Valencia County News-Bulletin, including prep competitions for the three local high schools, Senior Olympics, rodeo, Little League and more.
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November 22, 2023
