Carlo Baca jumped a season best 38’10-3/4″ in the triple jump. Photo by Blake Wood

Ciara Colgan and Julia Neale in the 100 m hurdles. Photo by Blake Wood

By BLAKE WOOD
Assistant Coach
LAHS Track and Field

The Hilltopper Track & Field teams put together solid performances at the Richard Harper Memorial Meet at Albuquerque Academy on Friday and Saturday, April 24-25, as they approach the Larry Baca Memorial Meet next Saturday at Sullivan Field, and the District and State Championships the two weekends after that.

Harper is a highly competitive meet, with many of the big 5A schools in attendance.  Nevertheless, the strong Hilltopper Girls squad took 2nd place overall, and both teams qualified additional athletes for the State Championship.

New State Qualifiers:

• 200 m: Evangelina Gutierrez, 25.51, Margaret Steinkamp, 26.28, and Chloe Coffey, 26.42.
• 400 m: Maliyah Vigil, 62.25.
• 800 m: Grace Montoya, 2:25.57.
• 4×400 m relay: Margaret Steinkamp, Maliya Vigil, Ayla Hawkley, and Zoe Romero.
• 1600 medley relay: Evangelina Gutierrez, Margaret Steinkamp, Iris Purtzer, and Ensley Jorgenson.
• 4×800 m relay: Elisabeth McNiff, Grace Montoya, Abigail Swigert, and Emmeline Keller-Moore.
• 3200 m: Emmitt Tibbitts, 10:01.
• 1600 medley relay: Carlo Baca, Ezra Kozimor, Pat Montoya, and Cole Luscher.

Podium Performances (a big deal in such a competitive meet):

• Discus champion: Sarah Martis
• 4X800 m relay champion: Elisabeth, Grace, Abigail, and Emmeline
• 1600 medley relay champion: Evangelina, Iris, Margaret, and Ensley
• 3200 2nd place: Elisabeth McNiff
• 3200 3rd place: Ensley Jorgenson
• 4×100 m relay 3rd place: Raina Passalacqua, Margaret Steinkamp, Chloe Coffey, and Evangelina Gutierrez
• 4×100 m relay 2nd place: Ewan Arnold, Jacob Hilderbrand, Chris Teague, and Jens Wald-Hopkins.

Record Book Performances (LAHS all-time top-10):

• 200 m: Jens Wald-Hopkins, 21.92 seconds, #3 all-time.
• 4×100 m relay: Ewan, Jacob, Chris, and Jens, 42.23 seconds, #2 all-time.
• 4×200 m relay: Rylee Gramer, Jacob, Chris, and Jens, 1:28.83, #3 all-time.
• 200 m: Evangelina Gutierrez, 25.51 seconds, #5 all-time.
• 1600 m: Elisabeth McNiff, 5:12.65, #6 all-time.
• 3200 m: Elisabeth McNiff, 11:22.61, #7 all-time.
• 4×100 m relay: Raina, Margaret, Chloe, and Evangelina, 49.03 seconds, #8 all-time seasons best list.
• 4×800 m relay: Elisabeth, Grace, Abigail, and Emmeline, 9:56.26, #6 all-time.
• 4×200 m relay: 8th graders Savannah Whitmer, Zoe Romero, Ayla Hawkley, and Maliyah Vigil, 1:50.99, improved their LAMS School Record by almost 3 seconds.
• 1600 medley relay: Evangelina, Iris, Margaret, and Ensley, #8 all-time.

Other Recent Performances of Note:

• Koen Christensen ran 9:56 in the 3200m and 4:29 in the 1600 m at Harper, his first time under 10:00 and 4:30. 
• William Hudlemeyer ran 4:39 in the 1600 m at Harper, his first time under 4:40.
• Ezra Kozimor cleared 11′ in the pole vault at Harper, a one foot PR.
• Jordan Herrera threw a PR 128’10” in the javelin at Harper.
• Carlo Baca achieved season best marks of 38’10-3/4″ in the triple jump and 11.48 seconds in the 100 m at Harper.
• Jens Wald-Hopkins ran a State Qualifying 1:59.47 in his first-ever 800 m race at the Sandia Prep Chile Invite.  He is now qualified for State in the 100, 200, 400, and 800 – a remarkable range of distances!
• Sarah Martis threw a PR 134’3″ in the discus at the Sandia Prep Chile Invite.  This is more than 35′ beyond the State Qualifying standard!

Next up for the Hilltoppers is the Larry Baca Memorial Meet at Sullivan Field in Los Alamos on Saturday, May 2, followed by the District Championship on Friday, May 8 (hosted by LAHS at Sullivan Field), and the State Championship May 15-16 at UNM in Albuquerque.

Jordan Herrera threw a personal record 138’10” in the javelin. Photo by Blake Wood

Evangelina Gutierrez leads off the 1600 m medley relay.  With teammates Iris Purtzer, Margaret Steinkamp, and Ensley Jorgenson, they posted the #8 all-time LAHS performance in this event. Photo by Blake Wood

Ewan Arnold completes the handoff to Jacob Hilderbrand in the 4×100 m relay final on their way to a 2nd place finish.  With teammates Chris Teague and Jens Wald-Hopkins, they posted a time of 42.23 seconds in the prelim, the #2 all-time LAHS performance in this event. Photo by Blake Wood

Catelynn Romero threw the discus 83’8″. Photo by Blake Wood