By Glen Rosales
Special to the SUN

It was not exactly a stellar performance for the Española Valley track and field squad a year ago as the boys and girls teams came away with exactly one point at the Class 4A state meet.

But while the girls medley quartet prevented a Sundevils shutout last season, things are going to be different this year, coach Loren Martinez said, thanks to an influx of some of the more athletic Española students.

On the girls side of things, other than seniors Neveah Cachora, Averi Shultz and Raquel Chacon, the team is loaded with youngsters, the coach said, but ones who should soon be contributing to the team’s success.

“Across the board, I think our girls have a lot of potential,” Martinez said. “They’re enthusiastic and they want to do better. Our numbers are looking pretty solid. We had a lot of freshmen coming over.”

Still, it all starts with Cachora, a distance specialist who has her sights set on medaling in the 3,200- and 1,600-meter runs.

“She handles our distance races and is the leader of the whole team,” Martinez said. “She’s part of our medley team, too, but we’re hoping to pull her off of there so she can concentrate on her individual events. Her goals are to get back on the podium for the 1,600 and 3,200.”

A year ago, she was 11th in the 3,200 and did not run the 1,600 after finishing fifth in the 3,200 as a sophomore and ninth in the 1,600.

Shultz, who also plays basketball, has already broken a long-standing school record in the long jump, recently going 16-feet, 1½-inches to erase a mark that was set 1987.

That was something Martinez saw coming.

“Her primary event is the long jump and I think she could make some noise this year,” he said. “She’s getting better at it. You need form and technique and she’s been at it since her freshman year and I think this is the year she puts it all together.”

And Chacon is working on her throws, hoping to sneak into state.

As for the rest of the squad, it’s certainly a work in progress, but there is enough evident talent to be optimistic for the future.

“Every one of them is coming over from the basketball team,” Martinez said of the youngsters. “They’re a friends group, so that helps. They’re a fantastic little bunch. If they stick it out for a number of years, they could be really good. They did track at the middle school and they’re a little raw, but they’re getting it.”

The football team has been the primary supplier of talent for the boys side.

“The workouts are keeping the boys in shape and it’s a good thing I have a football coach out there with me so we make sure and get them and they’re seeing the benefits of it, so that’s good,” Martinez said.

And the track team could certainly benefit, as well.

“I think we can get a couple of relay sides in and a couple in the individual events,” he said. “We have a good, solid base.”

When it comes to speed, the Sundevils are not blessed with that one burner, but “we have a pretty solid mix of sprinters,” Martinez said. “Not that elite, top end speed but in the 100 and 200, we have good depth.”

And with the relay teams losing but one senior, Española should be pretty well stacked in those events.

Individually, there are high hopes for junior cross country runner Elijah Martinez in the distance races.

And senior Mikey Maestas is the top speedster and he also captains the sprint relays. He’ll be joined on those foursomes by juniors Julian Gallegos and Deionne Flordeliz and sophomore Benny Trujillo.

Sophomore Jadon Vigil has taken ownership of the middle distance races and contributes on the longer relays, while sophomore Nicholas Martinez is gaining distance in the throws.

“Our depth will help keep us fresh and get us least one or two relays and a handful of individuals to state,” Loren Martinez said. “That’s our goal. We want to continue to get better at meets, but the 4A standards are pretty tough. The senior class last year (across the state), they set some high marks so they upped the standards this year and they are pretty fast to qualify for time.”