The Fred Loyas were presented with an honorary singlet for their contributions to the biggest meet of the season.
Every year the annual Fred Loya Invitational seems to grow in size and talent. So much so it's starting to garner attention from out of state teams as well. We had some very talented schools out of Deming, NM and Los Alamos, NM compete adding to this past weekend's spectacle.
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Girl Races To Watch
In the 300H we saw two of Eastwood's top varsity girls go head to head. Salma Licon has been a very reputable name in the hurdle scene but it was her teammate Kaira Joseph who stole the show. The senior hurdler broke her PR in prelims with a time 48.15 but that only earned her a second place ticket for her performance. What made her performance impressive was how she was able to battle out the competition and 20mph winds in the finals to finish 1st with a time of 48.35. Kaira showed why she belongs to be in the discussion of top hurdlers in the city.
Kaira Joseph shows grit to battle a tough field of competition to earn gold in the 300 hurdles.
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Lastly, the Chapin girls relay teams put their speed on full display to dominate not only the 4x100m but the 4x200m as well. These were some of our races that we anticipated would give us rank worthy performances and we were right. These girls jetted out a 1st place finish in the 4x100m with a time of 47.32. This also earned them a top 30 Texas ranking. But what they did in the 4x200m really was one of the top highlights of the day. Their talent was on full display when they cruised to a 1st place finish in the 4x200m as well. Their time of 1:40.72 earned them a 19th place Texas ranking. They also managed to break an El Paso Andress HS city record by tenths of a second that had been in place for more than 20 years!
The Chapin 4x200m dominated the competition at the Fred Loya Invitational
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Another one of our anticipated races to keep an eye on was the girls 800m. Sophomore Adelynn Rodriguez from Eastwood showed why she's the city's 800m queen. She's talked all season about not letting the emotions of competition dictate her racing style. She's proven to be immune to the pressure of a high stakes race and this past weekend we can see why. She started out with a smart first lap just making sure she needed to stay within reach of the front pack. Once the second lap hit she was accelerating on full cylinders and took control of the race like she's known for. She finished first with a time of 2:21.05.
Eastwood's Sophomore Adelynn Rodriguez showcased her race IQ once again in the 800m.
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Just like the girls, the boys also gave us fireworks. We had plenty of photo finish races but here are some of the more notable performances.
Boy Races To Watch
As we mentioned before, we saw some NM teams attend and they definitely left their mark on the El Paso running scene. Junior Melaki Gutierrez from Los Alamos dominated the 100m. He showed great focus out of the blocks but his ability to maintain his acceleration is what impressed us the most. Melaki has been a staple for his team's sprinting group and his speed was on full display. He finished 1st with a time of 10.97.
Melaki Gutierrez from Los Alamos HS was able to hold off the competition in the 100m.
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Another impressive performance came from one of the Big Three's runners. Senior State Medalist Angel Torres from Tornillo proved that despite being in 3A, he was crush any division he runs in. Talking to Torres after his race he mentioned trying to take a smarter approach to his competition. He knew the wind would be a big factor so he let the front runners carry the weight of the race. In the 3rd lap of the race Angel made a move to the front to challenge for first. It wasn't until the bell lap that he took control and never had to look back. He finished 1st with a time of 4:26.82.
The returning State Champ Angel Torres was all business in the varsity boy's 800m race.
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In the 400m we saw one of Coronado's top runners show great consistency that we've seen all season. Senior Cade Little, who didn't run his first three years in high school is giving us a big case of the "what ifs." It's hard to tell how fast he would be running had he run track all throughout HS, but we do know he's taken the running scene by surprise and this past weekend was no different. Little ran a very smart 200m split to maintain his position in the race. What was even more impressive was his ability to work his acceleration through the curve to take control moving into the final 100m of the race. Cade faced heavy wind going into the home stretch but held on to win a close but decisive 1st place finish. His time was 49.83.
Coronado runner Cade Little's toughness was on full display as he battled heavy wind to win the varsity boy's 400m race.
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These highlighted races don't do the weekend justice as there are many more great performances that were covered. Check out the photos, races and interviews from the 18th Fred Loya/MileSplit Invitational here.