Bloomfield senior sets school record at Sepulveda meet

ALBUQUERQUE

There was a sense of urgency in the weeks leading up to the Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions for Bloomfield senior Brendan Ramsey.

As a late entrant, Ramsey wasn’t sure if would be invited to the prestigious meet, which is comprised of New Mexico’s top event qualifiers regardless of classification.

“I was pretty pumped that I got invited because when I looked over the list I was one of the last guys that got accepted to compete here,” said Ramsey, who represented Class 4A in Monday’s meet in the triple jump event at the University of New Mexico track stadium.

To get qualified, Ramsey posted a mark of 42 feet, 8 inches at the Harry J. Hayes meet on April 9. That mark put him in the No. 5 slot among the top triple jumpers in all of New Mexico.

Against the state’s best, the Bloomfield senior capitalized on this opportunity by winning his event with a new personal best of 44-08.50. That mark also set a new school record as Ramsey bested the 43-08.75 mark set by Austin Lutz in 2007.

“(Brendan) came pretty close to the school record at the state meet last year so that was his goal this year,” Bloomfield coach Robert Griego said. “With it happening here in a meet like this is pretty nice, especially with all of the best kids in the state.”

Going into the meet, Griego told Ramsey to try to get as many jumps in the 43-foot range. He accomplished that in five of his six attempts.

“I wasn’t out to get first place because I knew there was going to be some tough competition,” Ramsey said. “My goal was to get a good jump and get ahead of last year’s pace.”

In his first attempt, Ramsey went 43-09 and surprised the field, which included a pair of athletes from Class 6A Albuquerque Volcano Vista. That effort helped set up his second attempt as he set his personal best.

“When I got that first jump I was super happy and that got me pumped up,” Ramsey said.

With four more attempts, Ramsey hit three more impressive marks as he ended up surpassing the old school record five times.

“He owns the top five jumps in Bloomfield’s history,” said Griego, while noting the record book dates back to 1958.

“We researched it thoroughly and we went back to the old state track records,” Griego said. “Our old head coach (Phil Sategna) also kept a lot of records.”

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