ALBUQUERQUE — Track meets aren’t usually noted for their last-second excitement, at least not like a walk-off home run in baseball, a game-winning field goal in football or a 3-pointer at the buzzer in basketball.

Last weekend’s Class 5A track meet provided some real excitement for the Rio Rancho High School boys.

They weren’t about to catch first-place Cibola, but a strong showing in the 4x400 relay meant the Rams could keep La Cueva and Highland at bay and finish with a second-place finish n the Rams’ best since they grabbed the red trophy in 2004. The Rams didn’t win the race, as Orion Murphy, Isaac Aragon, Esqui Padilla and Joe Miano finished third with a time of 3:25.21, behind Cibola (3:19.18) and La Cueva (3:19.21). Highland (3:26.45) was fourth, and the points the Rams gained were enough to keep them in second and send their long-time coach, Larry Chavez, out with another trophy.

“Honestly, it meant a lot to us, considering this is coach Chavez’s last year at Rio Rancho High and many of us who have grown up with him over the years are leaving,” explained Murphy. “We were on the bubble. It was basically a three-way tie going into who was going to take third and second. We knew we didn’t have the strongest (4x400), compared to everybody else.

“It just shows when you put your mind to it as a team what we can do.”

Chavez had told his quartet what was on the line and what they had to do to finish second or third.

“After the 200, he gave us a brief on what the points were, so we knew what the stakes were and what position we had to take, what each position would do to us,” Murphy said.

That 200 earned the Rams some valuable points, as senior teammate Thomas Trujillo finished second only to Cibola sophomore Matt Valenzuela, whose time was 21.71 seconds. Trujillo turned in a 21.87.

Valenzuela earlier had held off Miano in the 400, 48.56 to 48.97.

But Trujillo won the 100 in 10.7 and was the Rams’ high-point man with 16.25 of their 64 points. Cibola, long the favorite and undefeated this season, finished with 109 points.

Altogether, 17 teams scored points, as the runner-up Rams were followed by La Cueva (62), Highland (58), Clovis (37), Eldorado (29), Alamogordo (23), Mayfield (22), Sandia (12), Gallup (8), Valley and Hobbs (7 apiece), Oñate (5), Los Lunas (4), Gadsden (3), and Manzano and Las Cruces (2 each).

Although the Rams’ 4x400 relay didn’t win, RRHS had a winning relay team: The 4x100 quartet (Nate Wilkins, Trujillo, Miano and Gizeh Ibañez) sped to a 42.24, .2 second faster than runner-up La Cueva. The Rams’ medley relay team (Wilkins, Murphy, Miano and Aragon) was second in 3:37.91, while the 4x200 squad (Wilkins, Trujillo, Murphy and Ibanez) was third with a time of 1:30.31.

Also garnering points for the Rams were Andrew Lujan, who finished second in the javelin (178 feet), and Andrew Medina, who was second in the discus (148-4).

Daniel Fant was fourth in the pole vault (13-9), while Aaron Holt was sixth (13-3). Chris Newsome was sixth in the 110 hurdles (15.5) and Robert Selph, who was a distant 12th in the 3,200, was sixth in the 1,600 (4:31.52).

“All trophies are special,” Chavez said, “but this last one — because there was a chance we could go home empty-handed and come in fourth.

“I was hoping not to come down to the final event,” he continued. “I was hoping that when the 4x400 rolled around we were a solid two or three, but it just so happened it came down and it was a three-team race for two trophies. The last hour was probably the longest hour I’ve lived through as a coach.”

Chavez announced his retirement during the cross country season, and his harriers sent him off with a third-place trophy. The track and field team wanted to give him a special sendoff, too.

Chavez will spend the next school year playing a lot of golf and watching his children compete at Eastern New Mexico University, then return to the fold — at Cleveland High — to coach the boys cross country and track and field teams in the 2009-10 school year.

“What an exhausting experience,” Chavez said. “I was thinking up there, I coached for this moment? I’m crazy, because I was on pins and needles.”

“I think today we kind of competed like champions,” Murphy said. “Even though we didn’t take first, we proved … considering we were underdogs coming in. We weren’t even expected to even stay in third place with that 4x400.”

Splits: The Rams’ annual track and field potluck banquet is set for May 27 at 6 p.m. in the Mid-High cafeteria. For more information, call Chavez at 301-6756.