GREAT SOUTHWEST TRACK AND FIELD
NM prep stars shine at Great Southwest Classic
Two-day meet ended Saturday night
Published
Some of New Mexico鈥檚 elite prep athletes shined some more on Saturday at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic.
The Great Southwest brings together scores of top boys and girls from the region, and while not all of New Mexico鈥檚 superstars were entered this weekend, some of those who did had terrific showings.
The end of the individual running program on Saturday night, for example, saw Nicholas Ponte of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Academy clobber the field in the 3,200-meter final at the University of New Mexico Track and Field Complex.
Ponte, who is going to run at Harvard, went out quickly and pulled away throughout the eight laps, finishing in 9 minutes, 21.26 seconds. He won by 22陆 seconds, and frankly, it seemed like he won by more than that.
One of his Academy teammates, Anna Hastings, who is going to run for Brown of the Ivy League, was a double champion this weekend.
She captured the 2,000-meter steeplechase event late Friday night, and she added the 800-meter title 鈥� the 800 is the weakest of her three distances 鈥� on Saturday at UNM.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always fun to get out here with a bunch of girls with really fast times and just kind of see what I can do,鈥� Hastings said. She finished in 2:12.98 and ran down Ariel Simpson of Texas in the latter part of the second lap.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure if I could beat her,鈥� Hastings said. 鈥淏ut I think maybe she faded a little bit and I kept feeling good.鈥�
Hastings broke an Academy record in the steeplechase on Friday (7:02.51).
Brandyn Encinias of Pecos forgot his white New Mexico jersey at his hotel, and had to borrow a friend鈥檚 all-black uniform when he took the track for the boys鈥� 800-meter final.
But he led a New Mexico sweep of the top three, with Encinias (1:53.85) finishing ahead of Elliot Hickey of Academy and Kaleb Paquette of Silver.
Encinias next is going to Oregon for a Nike national event. And he said excitedly, this will be the first time in his life he has stepped on a plane.
鈥淚鈥檓 very happy, don鈥檛 get me wrong, but I know in a few weeks, I have to go to Nike and try to do the same thing,鈥� Encinias said. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful, but I鈥檓 gonna wake up the next day and get to work.鈥�
One of the fun victories came from New Mexico鈥檚 4x100-meter boys relay squad.
Hershul Olloway Jr. of St. Pius, Amin Cooper of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 High, Jhett Kinghorn of La Cueva 鈥� this year鈥檚 Great Southwest decathlon champion 鈥� and Sandia鈥檚 Chigekwu Nwagbo combined to win in 41.15 seconds. And that was with Nwagbo clearly running with a hamstring issue on the anchor leg.
Nwagbo, the 100-meter Class 5A state champion last month, tweaked it running the elite 100-meter open final in the late afternoon, where he placed second to Ralph Cullors of Texas. Cullors finished in 10.51 seconds, Nwagbo in 10.53. Olloway, the 4A New Mexico state champ, was third in 10.64 seconds. Nwagbo later withdrew from the open 200 because of his leg injury.
Olloway actually ran two 100-meter finals on Saturday. There is a second tier 100, which Olloway won early in the day, crossing in 10.48 seconds.
New Mexico had a tremendous finish in the 1-mile race. Elijah England, a multiple state champion from Navajo Prep in Farmington, led a 1-2-3 finish for New Mexico. England鈥檚 winning time was 4:15.64. Lucas Espinosa of Cleveland and Billy Romero of Taos were second and third, respectively.
Sophie Bair of Santa Fe Prep was the girls 3,200-meter champion.
Frisco, Texas鈥� CJ Williams, the nation鈥檚 top-ranked high school shot putter, did not compete Saturday.
The Ole Miss signee won the discus earlier in the day (196-0), but a knee injury that has been bothering him flared up and he left the shot put area after a couple of warm-up throws.
New Mexico didn鈥檛 make too much noise in the field events 鈥� until the last one of the meet.
Mayfield鈥檚 Miles Odom, the recent 5A state champion, won the event, clearing 15 feet 11录 inches. Odom cleared 16-7 to set the 5A state record on May 16, also at UNM.
Some finishes of note: Troy Dixon of La Cueva was third in the javelin. Grace Erinle of Academy, the state鈥檚 top long jumper, had a personal best jump Saturday of 19 feet, 2戮 inches 鈥� and she finished a distant fifth, the competition was so deep. Kingston Lee of Silver, just coming off his freshman season and one of the state鈥檚 highly touted young quarterbacks, was a solid fourth in the boys discus.
James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at .
