ALBUQUERQUE — Rio Rancho High School’s combined prep-college track meet last Saturday was a big success, said RRHS girls track and field coach Larry Chavez Jr., in spite of an hour delay for lightning in the area.

“Overall, I think the meet was extremely successful, and the feedback I got from the high school coaches and athletes was overwhelming positive,” Chavez said. “We had 100 state qualifications in a combination of field events, individual running events and relays coming out of this meet.

“The fan turnout was great and the atmosphere was awesome,” he said. “What a great venue to have a high school meet. Even with the lightning delays, the meet ended up running a little later than planned but no one was complaining. All athletes were sent into the indoor practice facility to wait it out and continue to warm up and, man, what a complex.”

Mike Gonzales closes in on a second-place finish in the 800, with teammates Clint Bramlette and Sean Stam not far behind last Saturday at UNM.

No tea, scores were kept, but it’d be hard to argue that Rio Rancho wouldn’t have won both ends of the daylong meet, which had 16 prep teams competing.

The Rams girls had three winners, five second-place finishers and six third-place finishers.

FIRSTS: Pilar Saiz in the pole vault at 9 feet, 9 inches and Carol Waterman in the javelin with a toss of 109’4”, the Rams’ 4x200 relay team (Tabitha Fischer, Azure Dorsey, Jalissa Hunte and Chelsea Lopez) won in 1 minute, 44 seconds and 63 100ths.

SECONDS: Nicolette Que-sada in the 800 (2:22.26), Tamara Lementino in the 3,200 (11:58.57), CiCi Cordova in the 100-hurdles (16.24), The 4x400 relay team (Fischer, Meghan Valdez, Kandis Wright and Amy Salinas/4:23.95) and the medley relay team (Lopez, Chelsie Fournier, Victoria Lyons and Quesada/4:30.85) also were second.

THIRDS: Lopez in the 100 (12.93), Gabriella Spence in the 200 (27.39), Alana Littleford in the 3,200 (11:58.85), Laura Norero in the high jump (4’10”), Fran Quintana in the pole vault (8’9”), Cordova in the triple jump (32’4.25”)

The Rams boys had seven winners, including all four relay races; five second-place finishers and four third-place finishers.

FIRSTS: Gizeh Ibañez in the 400 (50.6), Sean Stam in the 1,600 (4:34.45), Aaron Holt in the pole vault (12’9”), the 4x100 relay team (Larry Dupree, Nate Wilkins, Anthony Moreno-Chavez and Ibanez/44.43), the 4x200 relay team (Dupree, Troy Harris, Moreno-Chavez and Wilkins/1:30.78), the 4x400 relay team (Zach Sanchez, Esqui Padilla, Dillon Metzgar and Chris Herrera/3:33.91), and the medley relay team (Moreno-Chavez, Harris, Ibañez and Michael Gonzales/3:33.91).

SECONDS: Wilkins in the 100 (11.01), Ibanez in the 200 (22.28), Gonzales in the 800 (1:58.83), Robert Selph in the 1,600 (4:35.07), and Brad Steward in the 300-hurdles (42.21).

THIRDS: Clint Bramlette in the 800 (1:59.65), Caleb Rubalcaba in the 3,200 (10:05.23), Garrett Melugin in the 300-hurdles (42.42) and Josh DeRue in the discus (125’9”).

Former Rams sprinter Thomas Trujillo, a freshman at UNM, led the men’s team in the short sprints with altitude-adjusted season-bests of 10.71 in the 100 and 21.72 in the 200, finishing fifth in both.

The District 1-5A track meet will be held tomorrow afternoon at Milne Stadium, barring any additional postponements from the New Mexico Activities Association.

One week earlier, the Rams won the boys’ and girls’ meets at the annual Alamogordo Invitational.

The Rams boys finished with 107.5 points, 29.5 points ahead of runner-up Clovis. Rounding out the 10-team field were Alamogordo (71.5), Mayfield (67), Oñate (61), Las Cruces (26), Carrizozo (14), Santa Teresa (14), Valley (8) and Gadsden (7).

Rio Rancho had six first-place finishes at the meet: Dupree in the long jump (22’11.5”) and triple jump (42’6”), Daniel Fant in the pole vault (14’0”), Steward in the 110-hurdles (15.54), Ibañez in the 200 (22.58) and Selph in the 1,600 (4:33.37).

The Rams girls finished with 128 points, 55 points head of runner-up Clovis. Rounding out the 11-team field were Mayfield (72), Alamogordo (43), Valley (40), Las Cruces (33), Gadsden (23), Corona (15), Santa Teresa (14), Oñate (8) and Chaparral (2).

The Rams’ 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams and Quesada in the 800 were the team’s only victories.

Splits: The New Mexico Activities Association original schedule for the state track meet Friday and Saturday is intact and may be found at nmact.org.

… The District 1-5A meet was held Friday at Rio Rancho High School.

… Chavez is among eight finalists for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year in track and field honor. The winner will be announced this summer at the annual NHSCA convention in Minneapolis.

… Former Rams sprinter and basketball player Matt Churchman, a sophomore at Eastern New Mexico University, has been selected to the Lone Star Conference All-Academic Team for his performance on the track and in the classroom. Chuchman began the season with three top-15 performances in the season opener at UTEP.