Cavegirls 1st, Cavemen 2nd at Early Bird

By Don Eskins

Who can remember the last time the Cavegirls and Cavemen track teams finished first and second at a meet? No doubt, very few. But, for those of us who may not know just when that was, here’s a new date we might want to keep under our hats.

On Friday, February 28, at the Early Bird Invitational in the Alien City, that’s exactly what Carlsbad High’s thin clads did. Competing in a field of eight in Roswell, the Cavegirls placed first and the Cavemen second.

“For our first meet of the year, I couldn’t be happier. We got points in almost every single event, which was awesome,” said CHS second-year head coach Charles Millar. “This was the strongest performance for a season opener I’ve seen since I’ve been here. Usually, our kids are running these marks/times in early April, not early March.”

While the field was loaded with Cavemen and Cavegirl competitors who put up some great marks and times, here are a few of CHS’s top performances.

For the Cavegirls, Cassie Bielstien placed first in the Triple and Long Jumps. She also logged a second-place finish in the 100 Hurdles. Defending state champion Atria Wells grabbed first place in the Shot Put with a state qualifying throw of 36’00”. She also placed third in the Discus and fourth in the Javelin. Sprinter Campbell Foster logged a second-place finish in the 100 Dash.

For the Cavemen, Tayvin Marsh captured first place in the Triple Jump, while speedster Bobby Castenada placed first in the 200 Dash. CHS’s 4x100 Relay Team, comprised of Bobby Castaneda, Jaden Harper, Eaven Leos, and Reenson Akwiembi, placed second.

Carlsbad High will host the Ron Singleton Invitational on Friday, March 7. The meet is scheduled to get underway at noon.

“This meet will have a much bigger field than we saw at the Early Bird in Roswell,” said coach Millar. “Hobbs and Clovis will be in town, which always makes a very competitive meet. I’m excited to see how our kids fare this weekend, especially since all of them will get an opportunity to compete.”

Early Bird Invite Recap:

Cavemen Top 3 Finishes:

100 Meter Dash: 2 Jaden Harper 11.98; 5 Eaven Leos 12.31; 6 Reenson Akwiembi 12.33

400 Dash: 10 Dylan Pedroza 58.69; 13 Rio Sanchez 1:00.05; 34 Brian Ye 1:06.35

800 Meter: 5 Rex Reynolds 2:13.29; 6 Judah Wittmayer 2:15.17; 8 Dany Hernandez 2:15.60

3200 Meter Run; 3 Caisen Smith 12:16.73; 4 Blake Walden 12:27.01; 11 Gabriel Cano 14:21.74

300 Meter Hurdles: 3 Isaac Williamson 43.74; 5 Bryan King 44.37; 10 Trey Barta 48.56

200 Meter Dash: 1 Bobby Castaneda 23.12; 5 Tayvin Marsh 24.69; 19 Rio Sanchez 25.88

110 Meter Hurdles: 3 Bryan King 17.12; 4 Isaac Williamson 17.34;

4x100 Meter Relay: 2 Carlsbad High School ‘A’ 43.84; B. Castaneda-J. Harper-E. Leos-R. Akwiemba

4x200 Meter Relay: 4 Carlsbad High School ‘A’2:06.41; S. Onsurez-J. Perez-J. Rodriguez-L. Villarreal

4x400 Meter Relay: 4 Carlsbad High School ‘A’ 3:53.86; D. Escamilla-I. Williamson-D. Pedroza-B. King

High Jump: 7 Branson Gardner 5-02.00

Long Jump: 3 Reenson Akwiembi 20-05.00; 6 Drake Escamilla 18-07.00; 15 Kyler Daughtry 17-00.00; 15 Branson Gardner 17-00.00

Shot Put: 5 Ethan Rocha 40-00.00; 18 Casten Sanders 30-00.00; 19 Triston Munoz 29-08.00

Triple Jump: 1 Tayvin Marsh 40-10.50; 4 Josiah Workman 37-11.7; 7 Javien Perez 37-04.00

Javelin: 3 Kason Perez 126-03.00; 7

Michael Deanda 97-10.00; 11 Lennon Ananins 88-10.00

Cavegirl Top 3 Finishes:

100 Meter Dash: 2 Campbell Foster 14.16; 5 Norah Gallagher 14.48;11 Chloe Lopez

15.00

200 Meter Dash: 5 Chloe Lopez 29.40; 24 Jasmin Falcon 33.05

400 Meter: 3 Aubrey Veloz 1:07.86; 9 Alexyss Rios 1:20.26; 20 Pauline Siazon 1:23.08

800 Meter Run: 3 Jocelyn Baca 2:49.26; 12 Shylee Eiffer 3:03.29; 13 Joslyn Ontiveros 3:04.02

1600 Meter Run: 2 Kaitlyn Robertson 6:11.52; 3 Alyssa Balencia 6:20.17

4x100 Meter Relay: 3 Carlsbad High School ‘A’ 54.48; N. Gallagher-D. Balcazar-C. Foster-C. Lopez

4x200 Meter Relay: 4 Carlsbad High School ‘A’ 2:06.41; N. Abeya-R. Blair-J. Munoz-J. Falcon

High Jump: 2 Deandra Balcazar 4-06.00; 2 Rylan Blair 4-06.00

Discus: 2 Atria Wells 78-11.00; 3 Sophia Trujillo 78-03.50; 5 Chloe Noel 73-05.00

3200 Meter Run: 4 Jaydance Guitierrez 16:30.72; 5 Olivia Long 16:35.15; 6 Alexia Jones 16:51.22

100 Meter Hurdles: 2 Cassie Bielstein 18.99; 5 Estrella Herrera 20.09; 6 Rylan Blair 21.83

300 Meter Hurdles: 5 Meagan McKibben 56.08

4x400 Meter Relay: 2 Carlsbad High School ‘A’,4:36.49; A. Veloz- E. Herrera- M. McKibben-D. Balcazar

Long Jump: 1 Cassie Bielstein 15-02.50; 4 Meagan McKibben 13-04.00; 7 Aidee Chavarria 12-10.00

Triple Jump: 1 Cassie Bielstein 32-08.00; 2 Norah Gallagher 32-06.25; 3 Meagan McKibben 30-06.50

Javelin: 4 Atria Wells 66-07.00; 8 Erica Bixle 47-02.00; 9 Sydney Hanway 44-05.00

Shot Put: 1 Atria Wells 36-00.00; 2 Sophia Trujillo 33-07.50; 11 Chloe Noel 22-02.00