Moriarty Girls Take Team Gold at Pedro and Mateo Sandoval Memorial Meet

MORIARTY, N.M. — The Moriarty High School track and field teams showcased their depth Saturday at the Pedro and Mateo Sandoval Memorial Meet, with the girls team capturing the team title and the boys team finishing third overall. Meanwhile, athletes from Estancia High School also battled hard to put up steady results.

The Moriarty girls took home the team championship with 137.50 points, outpacing St. Michael’s (117) and Taos (79.50), Propelled by stellar distance running and depth across the roster.

Carmen Dorsey-Spitz led the charge for Moriarty, putting on a clinic in the distance events. Dorsey-Spitz cruised to a win in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:26.44 and captured the 3,200-meter title in 12:26.84. She also anchored the Pintos’ victorious 4×800-meter relay team, teaming up with Clara Windsor, Ashtyn Walter, and Lilly Shoemate to cross the finish line first in 10:35.24.

Walter added an individual gold to her resume as well, winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:35.12.

Moriarty’s relay squads proved untouchable throughout the meet, sweeping the 4×100, 4×200, 4×400, and 4×800 races. The quartet of Chloe Eastman, Kendall Carpenter, Genna Romero, and Emily Russell took first in both the 4×100 (53.28) and the 4×200 (1:55.55). The 4×400 team, featuring Walter, Romero, Carpenter, and Shoemate, capped off the relay dominance with a winning time of 4:35.36.

The Pintos also saw strong individual performances from Carpenter, who placed second in the high jump (4 feet, 8 inches), and Dawn Burton, who claimed second in the 100-meter hurdles (17.76) and third in the 200-meter dash (29.85).

Though Estancia High School fielded a smaller squad, finishing sixth overall with 20 points, the Bears made their presence known in the throwing pits by claiming two individual championships.

Jhenna Valencia delivered a standout performance in the javelin, launching a winning throw of 130 feet, 6 inches to defeat her closest competitor by nearly 16 feet. Her teammate, Ana Cuevas, earned Estancia’s second gold medal of the day by winning the discus throw with a mark of 96 feet, 1 inch.

On the boys’ side, Moriarty tallied 110.50 points to place third behind Taos (151.50) and St. Michael’s (124). Estancia’s girls team finished sixth overall with 20 points, while the Estancia boys placed sixth with one point.

For the Moriarty boys, a dominant showing in the relays set the tone. The Pintos struck gold in the 4×800-meter relay, as the team of Michael Nieto, Domicio Brito, Gael Luna and Mateo Griego-Manley crossed the finish line in 9:38.78. They also picked up a win in the 4×200 relay with Noah Gonzales, Julius Taylor, Nathaniel Tafoya and Mario Romero finishing in 1:37.05.

Moriarty completed its relay trifecta by winning the 4×400 as Gonzales, Romero, Dominic Brown and Taylor clocked a 3:45.43. The Pintos added a second-place finish in the 1,600 sprint medley (4:15.23).

Individually, Gonzales secured a victory for Moriarty in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.77 seconds.

Moriarty also found immense success in the field events. Thomas Miller won the discus throw with a toss of 126 feet, 9 inches, while teammate Lance Volk took third at 118-05. Volk also earned third in the shot put (37-09.00). In the pole vault, David Costa cleared 11-00.00 for second place, leading a pack of Pintos that included Romero (9-06.00), Matthew McMurtrey (9-00.00) and Nieto (8-00.00) placing fourth through sixth, respectively.

In the distance runs, McMurtrey grabbed second in the 3,200 (11:51.94) and third in the 1,600 (5:15.90).

Other notable Pinto finishes included Jack Otero taking third in the 300 hurdles (47.29) and fifth in the triple jump (35-04.50), while Angelo Montoya secured third in the 110 hurdles (19.24).

Estancia athletes competed across multiple track and field disciplines throughout the afternoon. In the 800-meter run, Levi Romero paced the Bears by placing sixth with a time of 2:28.46, and teammate Emmett O’Hara finished in 3:17.11.

Caden Lujan led Estancia in the sprints, posting a 12.57 in the 100-meter dash and a 1:01.46 in the 400. In the field, Olaf Mercer led the Bears in the long jump with a leap of 15-10.50, and Raymond Gonzalez threw 28-08.00 in the shot put.