Harper track and field meet: Daniels, James, Rahmer among winners on first day

Apr. 26—The last time Gianna Rahmer was racing at this facility, nearly six months ago, she was capping off a historic cross country season.

Nothing has changed about Rahmer's separation from the pack, except the time of year and the sport.

Rahmer, the eighth-grader from Hoover Middle School who competes for Eldorado, pulled away to win the 3,200-meter final Friday afternoon at the elite Richard Harper Memorial Meet at Albuquerque Academy.

In her first 3,200 of the spring in the metro area — she ran one in Arizona a few weeks ago — Rahmer led the whole way and finished in 10 minutes, 53.26 seconds, about 23 seconds ahead of Academy's Anna Hastings. And Rahmer blazed down the track in a full sprint over the final 100 meters.

"Because it's been windy the last couple of weeks, my coach didn't want me to do the 3,200 when it's super windy. Today was finally a nice day," Rahmer said. "And I've been working on a bunch of speeds, working on 4x4s and 800s, and miles, to build up my speed."

Rahmer, like all her peers, have begun to seriously ramp up toward state, which is May 17-18 at the University of New Mexico Complex. The Albuquerque Metro Championships are next week, followed by district.

"I'm very happy with the times I've been running, and about my speed and my endurance," she said. "I'm really excited for state."

Senior Nick Moore of Eldorado completed the 3,200 sweep for the Eagles in a race that featured a handful of leaders. Even battling a cold, and feeling only about 85% healthy, Moore put together an excellent final lap to put away challengers Nicholas Ponte of Academy and Skyler Galbraith of Rio Rancho.

Moore's winning time was 9:42.27. Ponte finished in 9:43.60.

"With 400 left, I was like, man, I don't feel good. Do I really want to kick?" Moore said with a smile. "With 300 left, this (La) Cueva kid (Nikko Mihan) was right next to me. I'm like, I'm not gonna let a Cueva kid beat me."

Moore eventually surged, passed Galbraith for the lead, and found the energy to finish strong — in large part because of where he was.

"This meet is the biggest one, other than state," Moore said. "This is the one everyone knows, the one everyone goes for. The competition is top tier, so you just have to go for it."

The 3,200s were the only individual running final on Day 1 of the Harper, by far the most prestigious multi-day regular-season meet in New Mexico.

Friday was heavy on field events, with 12 of the 14 finals. The boys and girls discus are Saturday morning.

To no one's surprise, Los Alamos' Jaiya Daniels supplied one of the day's memorable moments, when she soared 19 feet, 5 1/2 inches (on her last trip down the runway) in her long jump victory. It was a career best mark for the Hilltoppers' exciting junior.

Daniels' top jump this season before Friday was 17-9. And she went 18-4 early in the Harper event, a jump that would have easily held up against runner-up Rebecca Neal of Highland (17-3). Daniels wasn't even required to jump anymore.

"I was thinking about not taking the last jump, to try and conserve my legs," said Daniels, who still had qualifying ahead of her in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. "But I was like, I'm at my last jump, I'm in first place, so why not take it and see what happens?"

Daniels also posted the fastest qualifying time in both the 100 (12.16 seconds) and the 200 (24.80).

Strat Shufelt of Cleveland is fast approaching the magical 60-foot threshold in the shot put. The Storm senior, who is going to be playing football for UTEP, went 58 feet, 8 1/2 inches (extending his school record) in his victory Friday. This was a foot-and-a-half longer than his previous personal best this spring. And he won the event by nearly seven feet.

Victoria Marthaler of La Cueva had a very impressive mark of 5-5 in the girls high jump; none of her rivals cleared more than 5-0.

Cleveland swept the javelin. Jaylee Gandert (143-1) won the girls, Jordan Mora (180-1) the boys.

Ryanne Huntington of Rio Rancho (36-3) was the girls shot put champion. Her Rams teammate, Arianna Valenzuela, was runner-up in the shot put and placed third in the javelin.

Spencer Womack of Piedra Vista claimed the boys triple jump (45-3), and added a third-place showing in the high jump, an event won by Academy senior Sam James (6-2).

"It's awesome. I get to practice here every day, so I feel comfortable here," James said. He said he believed a bigger jump is in his immediate future. "I'm getting there. I feel it coming."

Los Alamos' girls added victories in the pole vault with Colette Bibeault (11-0) and the triple jump with Dani Trellue (35-7 1/2 ).

Farmington's Michael Beck went 23 feet, 1 1/2 inches for first place in the boys long jump; the metro area placed 2-6, led by Tyler Griffith of Cleveland, with Fredrick Ford of Albuquerque High third. Ford also finished second in the triple jump.

La Cueva's Grant Vlaun continues to shine in the pole vault. The top seed cleared 14 feet, half a foot higher than the runner-up.

Melaki Gutierrez of Los Alamos (10.70 seconds) was the top qualifier in the boys 100, followed by Ford and Santa Fe's Bryce Melton. Those three are relay teammates in the offseason. Beck had the fourth-best time in prelims. Gutierrez also had the quicket time (21.39) in the 300 prelims.

The remaining running finals begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Harper Stadium.

TEAM: Los Alamos' girls scored 52 points and leads comfortably headed into Day 2. Rio Rancho (33) is in second place. Cleveland tops the boys standings, with 40 points, twice as many as second-place Academy.