Even an excellent 13.42 in the 100-meter dash wasn’t enough for Ignacio’s Azala Perez to beat emerging 2A/1A San Juan Basin League rival Aryelle Wright – who laid down a 13.19 – across the line at the IHS-hosted 2016 SJBL Championships on Tuesday, May 3.
The leggier Dolores freshman was again in sight for the Lady Bobcat junior when their two teams were in the mix four days later at the Terry Alley Invitational hosted by 3A Pagosa Springs. And yet again, youth somehow outdid experience; Wright placed third in 13.38 seconds while Perez was sixth in 13.78 … but somewhat happy that first place didn’t go to the Lady Bear but instead to 1A Mosca Sangre de Cristo’s Sarah Storey (13.15).
Scoring towards the team total, Perez helped the Lady Cats to an 11th-place 21.5 points. Wright and DHS finished eighth with 40.5, Sangre’s Lady Thunderbirds were seventh with 50.5, and 3A Alamosa won with 128.
Juniors Kelly Campbell and Lea Monroe turned in Ignacio’s top individual efforts, with Campbell tying SdC’s Kayla Moore for third in the high jump – both cleared 4’5” (Campbell’s 4’7” won the SJBL’s) – and Monroe a sole third in the pole vault (7’1”), trailing 3A Bayfield junior Maddi Foutz (8’7”) and senior Katie Hawkins (9’1”), while IHS teammates Chrystianne Valdez and Rachel Cooper were unable to clear the minimum.
Lady Cat freshman Kiana Valdez cleared 4’3” in the high jump but required more attempts to do so than Dolores’ Shavargus Noyes with sixth place at stake. First place went to AHS’ Mary Streeter, who cleared 4’7” and beat BHS’ Sky Vagneur by two inches.
No relays were entered for Ignacio, but thrower Alana Watts scored with her sixth-place chuck of the discus. It flew 91 feet, eight inches – well behind Sangre senior Jenna McKinley’s winning 136’6”, but less than three feet behind 2A Center’s Carmen Ruggles (94’1”) for top-five status.
IHS’ Rosaleigh Concepcion was 16th (73’11”) in the specialty and, hardly 12 hours removed from playing in Lady Bobcat Soccer’s season-finale, freshman Briana Duran took 27th (55’3”). She’d finish 23rd in the shot put (21’2”) while Watts came in seventh (26’8.25”). Cooper recorded another top-15 for Ignacio by taking 12th in the 300-meter hurdles in one minute, 7.03 seconds.
Next for Ignacio will be the Monte Vista Last Chance on Saturday, May 14 (9 a.m. start), out in the San Luis Valley, with all athletes either looking to achieve a qualifying mark or improve their qualified status for the May 19-21 State Championships up at Jeffco Stadium.
COOL STAT
McKinley’s effort in the discus not only blasted her third-place 115’1” at last year’s Class 1A State Championships out of memory, but put the whole classification on alert. For had she thrown it last spring up in Lakewood it would have earned her first by almost 20 feet over Eads’ now-senior Brooke Lenox. Committed to NCAA Div. II CSU-Pueblo as of December 2015, McKinley is Class 1A’s defending champ in the shot (41’8.5”).
TERRY ALLEY INVITE (5/7) GIRLS’ STANDINGS
1.Alamosa 128, 2.Bayfield 107, 3.Telluride 79, 4.Pagosa Springs 68, 5.Center 54, 6.La Jara Centauri 52.5, 7.Mosca Sangre de Cristo 50.5, 8.Dolores 40.5, 9.Ouray 27, 10.Mancos 22, 11.IGNACIO 21.5, T-12.Dove Creek/Monte Vista 11, 14.Nucla 8, 15.Creede 7.
SJBL CHAMPIONSHIPS (5/3) GIRLS’ STANDINGS
1.Telluride 178, 2.Dolores 115, 3.IGNACIO 61, 4.Dove Creek 56, 5.Mancos 54, 6.Ouray 44, 7.Nucla 27.
(For Ignacio, Perez was second in the 200 with her 28.48 trailing only Wright’s 27.81. Kiana Valdez was fourth in the high jump at 4’5” and Cooper was seventh in the 800 in 3:02.79, while Monroe, Chrystianne Valdez and Cooper went 1-2-3 in the pole vault – clearing 7’9”, 7’3” and 5’9”, respectively. Watts was third in the shot with a 28’8” best and sixth in the discus at 79’8”.)