There weren’t any surprises in Moriarty Friday afternoon, other than it was colder than Rio Rancho track and field coaches Larry Chavez and Hilario Chavez would have liked.

Hilario Chavez, in fact, voiced two words about the conditions that day: “horrible, horrible.”

If there was any surprise, it was in store for Clovis High, which opted not to run the final event of the afternoon. The Rams’ won that, the 4x400 relay, and their side of the meet, edging the till-then-leading Wildcats 148.5-143.

“(The Clovis coach) thought he had the big lead and they were five ahead of us. They’d been 18-22 points ahead of us all day,” Larry Chavez said.

Coincidentally, the Rams had fallen from second place to third in the last event of the day in their previous meet.

Rounding out the field were Moriarty (55), Grants (35), Estancia (27), Roswell (25) and Goddard (15).

In winning the seven-team meet, contested on a chilly, windy day, the Rams won nine events and added a state qualifier to the big May meet: Aaron Holt, who won the pole vault with a leap of 12 feet, nine inches.

Also ringing up victories for the Rams were Joe Miano in the 400 (53.14), Samir Bradley in the shot (47-10½), Thomas Trujillo in the 200 (22.11), Chris Newsome in the high jump (5-11) and 110-hurdles (15.47), plus the medley relay (Trujillo, Garrett Melugin, Esqui Padilla and Rob Selph/3:56.17) and 4x400 relay (Orion Murphy, Nathaniel Wilkins, Isaac Aragon and Miano/3:34.36).

Among those finishing second for the Rams was Trujillo in the 100 (10.81), whom Chavez said “got a bad start and lost” and that his senior wouldn’t take it as a setback, instead, Chavez said, “It’ll keep him focused.”

Other runners-up were Aragon in the 800 (2:09.2), Clint Bramlette in the 1,600 (5:00), Selph in the 3,200 (10:52), D.J. Zorn in the javelin (173-0), Bradley in the discus (126-10), Dane Bevins in the pole vault (11-9), plus the 4x200 relay team (Gizeh Ibañez, Wilkins, Murphy and Newsome/1:34.5).

The Rams had a trio of third-place finishers: Bramlette in the 800 (2:12.8), Andrew Lujan in the javelin (166-10) and John DeRue in the discus (120-½).

The Rams girls also won their meet, topping the ‘Cats by 19 points, 139-120. The host Pintos were third with77 points, followed by Grants (43), Goddard (32), Roswell (24) and Estancia (15).

The Rams had five first-place finishers: Katrina Trout in the pole vault (9-0), Meaghan Valdez in the 800 (2:34.64), Nicole Smith in the 300-hurdles (52.09), Jenna Padilla in the 1,600 (5:53.32) and the medley relay team (Kim Frenz, Diane Anderson, Valdez and Kandis Wright/4:47.69).

The Rams’ 4x100 (Anderson, Frenz, Gabby Spence and Tabitha Fischer/52.64) and 4x400 (Smith, Breannah Schall, Heather Totschek and Tatiana Lucero/4:25) relay teams finished second, as did Chelsie Fournier (200/27.4), Schall (400/65.0), Frenz (high jump/5-0) and Ellen Becenti 1,600/5:59 and 3,200/13:30).

Finishing third for Rio Rancho were Jalissa Hunte in the 400 (67.0), CiCi Cordova in the 100-hurdles (17.37), Racquel Torres in the 3,200 (14:52), Amy Salinas in the 1,600 (6:11), Allison Majewski in the triple jump (32-4½) and the 4x200 relay (Frenz, Lucero, Spence and Anderson/1:55.2).

Rams teammates Pilar Saiz, Kelly Seeser and Fran Quintana wound up in a three-way tie for third place in the pole vault after each cleared 8-0.

The Rams cinderpathers will see Clovis again Friday, when they head east to compete in the annual Wildcat Relays in Clovis. Also in the field are a few other “southern” schools, such as Hobbs and Alamogordo, plus Albuquerque schools Cibola, Highland, La Cueva and Eldorado. The Cougars are the favorites to win both meets, the Chavezes agreed.

Larry Chavez said the meet also would draw some of the regional qualifiers from west Texas, making tomorrow’s meet at Leon Williams Stadium “a high quality meet.”

Splits: The Rams are out of town next week, too, competing in the annual Alamogordo Qualifier. The annual Rio Rancho Invitational will be contested the following week, May 2, after originally being scheduled for May 3.

… The Rams had four winners at the annual Marilyn Sepulveda Invitational Monday. Trujillo won the 100 (10.7) and 200 (21.52), Andrew Medina won the discus (149-8) and Lujan won the javelin (175-0).

... Do you like to run, bike and swim? The first Patriot Triathlon will be held Sept. 14 in Rio Rancho, starting and ending at the new Rio Rancho Aquatic Center on Loma Colorado Drive. The event, which will be sanctioned by the USTA, is open to teams and individuals. It begins with a 400-yard swim (seeded by ability), followed by a 25k bike ride and a 5k run. The entry fee is $45; the field will be limited to 400 participants. Longtime Rio Rancho resident Andie Talmadge is organizing the event. See www.fitfundamentals.com for more.