Bloomfield sophomore defends triple jump crown
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Bloomfield sophomore Andrew Himes captured four medals at the New Mexico Class 4A state track meet last week, including gold in the triple jump event.
ALBUQUERQUE – After four attempts, Bloomfield’s Andrew Himes questioned whether he could successfully defend his state crown in the boys 4A triple jump.
Himes trailed Albuquerque Academy Jamal Witter, who opened the event with a 43-feet, 11.5 inch effort on his first jump.
But on his fifth try, the Bloomfield sophomore got out to 44-05.50 as that mark was never topped by any of the eight finalists on Saturday morning at the UNM Track & Field and Soccer Complex in Albuquerque.
“It was scary because I was not jumping any good at the beginning,” Himes said. “I didn’t pop that 44 feet until my second to last jump. Everyone had one more jump, so it got nerve-wracking watching the other guys make that one last jump.”
And although he won the state title, Himes was looking to set a new personal record in said event as he came up two inches shy of his PR of 44-07.
“I could have worked for a better finish, but I knew that was a good jump,” Himes said. “Everything sort of came together on that jump.”
Himes led the Bobcats to a fifth-place finish in the team standings as Bloomfield racked up 27 points behind state champ Los Alamos (138), Academy (86.50), Artesia (43.50) and Chaparral (28).
Himes earned two bronze medals in the 110 and 300 hurdles as well as sixth-place finish in the long jump.
In the 110 hurdles, Himes clocked in at 15.07 as he trailed Los Alamos senior Julian Singell (14.84) and Academy’s Sam James (14.99).
“Me and the second-place guy have always come after each other, so I knew it was going to be a fight,” Himes said.
In the 300 hurdles, the Bloomfield athlete improved his PR by nearly seventh-tenths of a second as he credited Los Alamos senior Daniel Kim for pushing him.
Kim won the race easily in 37.69 seconds with Singell taking second at 38.43 and Himes coming in at 39.71.
“I knew that I could get another PR if I could try and stay with Kim,” Himes said.
The Bobcats had four athletes that medaled with junior Eli Meador taking second in the pole vault (13-00), senior Robert Williams placing third in the discus (130-01), junior Heath Johnson earning fifth in the 110 hurdles (16.07) and sophomore Andrew Himes placing sixth in the long jump (21-03)
Kirtland Central, which earned seven points, received a fourth-place finish from senior Chaske Taylor in the discus (129-07), a fifth-place effort from junior Dathan Esson in the 3200 (9:59.63) as well as a pair of sixth-place finishes from pole vaulter Easten Warner (11-06) and shot putter Elijah Grey (45-01).
Gallup High took fourth in the sprint medley relay race (3:41.52) and the Bengals also received a sixth-place finish from junior Brady Thompson in the javelin (152-05).
Aztec, meanwhile, earned a fourth-place effort from senior Baylor Seabolt in the javelin (164-06) while the Miyamura placed sixth in the 4×800 relay race (8:35.24).
In 5A Piedra Vista junior Spencer Womack led the Panthers with two state medals. Womack took second in the triple jump with a 43-09.75 effort and third in the high jump by clearing 6-04.
For Farmington, sophomore Miguel Benavidez took fifth in the pole vault (12-06) and junior Alex Serrano also placed fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.61).
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