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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Monarch Shows Future Promise

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      Nick Linden can hardly wait until next year.
       The 5-foot 7-inch, 155-pound Manzano High junior took sixth place in the Class 5A boys long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 6½ inches to score a point, half the Monarchs' production, at the state large-school track and field championships on Friday at the University of New Mexico's track stadium.
       “The competition was so hard,” said Linden, who was seeded 10th in the long jump and 15th in the 100-meter dash prior to the two-day meet that concluded Saturday. “The top five were jumping like 22s and 23s. But my goal for next year is to make the top three in the 100, 200 and long jump. Before, I'd take basketball season off, not do anything between football and track. Next year, I want to do winter track or just run on my own.”
       Linden placed seventh in the 100 with a time of 11.17 seconds, and he ran the second leg for the Monarchs' sixth-place 1,600 medley relay team. The top six placers score.
       “I leaned my head (over the finish line) in the 100 (finals), but the guy next to me, the laser got him ahead of me,” said Linden, who lives in Tijeras. “But that's all right. I feel like I had a lot of improvement this year. Last year, I ran (junior varsity) all year except the last couple meets. I think I've established myself as one of Manzano's premier runners.”
       The future is bright.
       “Next year, I think Nick Linden will come into his own,” said Monarchs boys coach Harvey Carreathers. “He had a good state meet. He came together. But next year, a couple of (additional) football players would definitely help us, but we do have some good young guys, too.”
       The East Mountains quartet of Jesse Paulsen, Linden, Matt Stoltzfus and Chris Quintana earned a cumulative time of 3 minutes, 40.52 seconds in the 1,600 medley relay for Manzano. Paulsen and Quintana reside in Sandia Park. Stoltzfus is from Tijeras, and Ryan Gesiakowski, who ran the third leg during the preliminaries on Friday, is from Albuquerque.
       Quintana, who had to battle in the 800-meter anchor leg of the four-lap medley relay race, was the key to his team's scoring in the event. The medley is comprised of two 200 legs, then a 400 and an 800 leg.
       “It was one of the craziest races I've ever run in,” said Quintana, a 5-foot 10-inch, 155-pound senior. “We ran in a pack almost the whole way. I was running against a La Cueva guy. Every time I'd try to make a move, I'd get bumped. But I was able to move into scoring position around the 500(-meter) mark.”
       Quintana plans to attend Seattle University this fall and pursue a degree in creative writing. He also hopes to walk on the Redhawks' track team.
       Manzano earned two points overall and tied for 16th with Las Cruces High. Cibola won the team title with 109 points.
       “We ran pretty well,” Carreathers said. “I was pleased. We shouldn't have scored a point (based on pre-meet seedings). Other than Nick, our other runners didn't run their best, but they ran well… (And in throws this season), we had some guys that were learning. We had a couple seniors (in) their first year in track and field. They didn't pick it up quite as quickly as we needed them to. A couple more weeks, and I think they would have.”
      
       Manzano girls
       Lady Monarchs junior Monquisha Coleman earned 17 of her team's 23 points. The Albuquerque resident won her second straight state long-jump crown (17-11½), got the silver medal in the 200 (25.38), was fourth in the 100 (12.59) and ran a leg for Manzano's fourth-place 400 and 800 relay teams (at 49.54 and 1:47.36, respectively).
       Coleman, Jo Lonesome, Melissa Daugherty and Sondai Lonesome ran in both relays.
       The Monarchs were eighth overall. Clovis earned the championship trophy with 72 points.
       Manzano freshman Rachel Bean, who lives in Carnuel, was injured. She had a stress fracture in her foot and missed the last three meets of the season.
       “That hurt us a lot,” Monarchs coach John Flores said. “We might have done better in the medley and 4x(400) relays with her. But we were lucky Melissa Daugherty didn't have to leave for a soccer game.”
       “Hopefully, all of our kids will come back next year,” Flores continued. “Our (400 relay) ran faster this year than they did last year with Isis (Wilson, who has since moved). I think we had a good quartet. They were faster by over a second. That's a lot in a quarter mile. They were faster than St. Pius, who set the 4A state record in the 4x100.”
   

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