Pine Hill girls win 3 golds, Ramah boys 2 in state track

ALBUQUERQUE

In an impressive haul, the Pine Hill girls and the Ramah boys collected five state titles in the 1A state meet on Thursday.

The Lady Warriors racked up three crowns while Ramah won two on Thursday in the small schools’ championships at the University of New Mexico Track-Soccer Complex in Albuquerque.

Led by freshman Kairi Etsitty, who finished with two gold medals, Pine Hill placed sixth overall in the team standings with 29 points.

“I feel really good knowing that I’m (representing) my school,” Etsitty said, adding that she helped put Pine Hill on the map.

Etsitty won her first race by nearly a minute, cruising to win the 3,200-meter run in 13:40.69.

In the 1,600, she worked her way up from third to first, passing Ramah’s Aleeya Lambson, who finished second, in the final lap. Etsitty was clocked in at 6:11.46 while the Ramah freshman finished in 6:25.74.

While she captured two state titles, her teammate Maurie Daniels was busy putting the finishing touches on setting a new state record in the javelin throw.

Daniels won her state crown with a throw of 113 feet, 9 inches. The previous record was 110-05, which was set in 2016 by Cliff’s Valeri Overstreet.

The Pine Hill senior hit that mark on her final throw as she had four other throws under 100-feet.

“It was my last throw and I just left it all out there,” she said.

Daniels also placed third in the shot put with a throw of 30-08.50.

“I actually did a PR of 30-feet and I’ve never done that before,” she said.

She also helped the sprint medley team to a fourth-place finish.

“I got three medals today and I’ve never gotten to the podium until this year,” she said. “I’m kind of going all out today.”

On the boys’ side, Ramah sophomore Bowdy Evans captured gold in the long jump with a 19-02.75 effort. Not bad for an athlete who was seeded ninth going into the state championships.

“I was not expecting to win the long jump at all,” Evans said. “I jumped 18 feet to get qualified and going in I just felt really good.”

And although he scratched on his first two jumps, Evans said he was confident based on how far he was jumping.

“My first jump I scratched but I felt really good about it,” he said. “If I hit the board, it would have been a long jump. I scratched on the next one but I just kept my confidence up and on the next one I had a perfect jump.”

Evans claimed another gold medal, helping the sprint medley team to a first-place finish.

The team, which consists of Hunter Tietjen, Bowdy Evans, Whelan Clawson and McKay Evans, won the race in 4:07.35.

The Mustangs also had a good showing in their other relay races with the 4×100 (47.61) and 4×200 (1:40.71), taking third.

“We’re fortunate to have a talented group of kids but it’s taken us years for us to find that chemistry,” Clawson said. “We’ve played every sport together since the eighth grade. We’ve been in the same group for a long time, so this comes second nature to us.”

For a more in-depth story, including other state placers, pick up next Thursday’s Navajo Times.

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