THS runner finishes 22nd at Clovis meet

Alex Bueno De La O was Tucumcari High School’s top runner at the season-opening Clovis Invitational cross-country meet Friday, finishing 22nd overall.

The junior finished the 5,000-meter course at Ned Houk Park in 20 minutes, 50.24 seconds at the seven-team event. Tucumcari was the smallest-enrollment school at the race.

With other Rattler runners, freshman Bryan Carreon Reyes of Tucumcari finished 27th (21:38.04), junior Julian Flores, 38th (24:06.90), sophomore JT Turpin, 44th (27:13.52) and freshman Paxton Smith, 46th (29:41.62).

Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said his runners and others struggled against 95-degree heat and late-stage terrain during the midafternoon event.

He said the third leg of the race was in the open sun and uphill, and Rattlers runners later admitted to Clark they ran too fast in the early portions of the competition.

“I think a lot of kids hit a wall right at that spot,” he said.

Clark said he would advise his runners on strategy and form for next weekend’s race at Amarillo.

“We’ve got to get to a steady pace throughout the race, then with a kick at the finish,” he said.

Sammy Fuentes of Clovis won the boys varsity race with a time of 17:26.18, which was more than 30 seconds faster than runner-up Luis Cordova of Hobbs.

Tucumcari finished seventh at the meet with 172 points. Hobbs won the boys event with 41 points, while Clovis was runner-up at 85 points. Hereford finished a close third at 90 points.

In the girls race, Tucumcari junior MiKayla Klinger finished 37th in 37:01.19. Teammate Maritza Flores, a sophomore, was 42nd in 43:30.62.

The Lady Rattlers didn’t score any team points because of a lack of runners.

Gabrielle Foggie of Clovis won the race in 21:31.02, edging Makaylee Morillon of Artesia by nearly 15 seconds.

Clovis won the girls team title with 24 points. Hereford was runner-up with 48 points, and Artesia finished third with 80.