Ruidoso Free Press
B4
May 7, 2013
Ruidoso tennis season ends at District 4-3A tournament French earns singles victory By Todd Fuqua Sports Editor todd@ruidosofreepress.com In the midst of Ruidoso’s sweep at the hands of the Portales boys and girls tennis teams last Monday, there were two matches that stood out. One was a pleasant surprise for the Lady Warriors, the other was a disappointment for the boys. The girls fell 8-1, but their one victory came at No. 3 singles, when Erica French turned in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Samantha Lopez. French earlier had combined with teammate Janet Lambe in a 6-2, 6-2 loss
to Ryann Privett and Belle Youngerwolf, but Ruidoso coach Dennis Johnston said the matches showed how far along his young girls have progressed. “Things are really difficult for us at the top and bottom, but pretty competitive in the middle,” Johnston said. “You have to remember that these are young kids, some who’ve never played before. Those that have are still young.” While French’s singles victory was a triumph, Warrior Daniel Marshall’s 7-5, 6-3 loss to Austin Lucero at No. 1 singles was a disappointment. Marshall decided to
Todd Fuqua/Ruidoso Free Press
Ruidoso’s Erica French had a good day on April 29 during the Lady Warriors’ team match against Portales, winning her singles contest against Samantha Lopez, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. forgo singles competition at Friday’s District 4-3A tournament in Portales, instead competing in doubles with partner Danny Myers, losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to
NMMI’s Jorge Garza and Mauricio Moncada. “That was our best shot at state, and we knew it would be a long shot,” Johnston said.
Todd Fuqua/Ruidoso Free Press
Daniel Marshall returns a serve during a doubles match at Schoolhouse Park on April 29. Marshall and teammate Danny Myers fell to Portales’ Austin Lucero and Mychael Sturm in three sets.
Carrizozo track has successful qualifying day
Todd Fuqua/Ruidoso Free Press
Carrizozo’s Fantasia Dennis throws the javelin during the Carrizozo Quad meet on April 30. For the boys, Cardinal Sam Brown is looking for a victory in the 800-meter run, although he hasn’t been fast enough to qualify for state by time. He was third in the event on Tuesday, behind runners from Tularosa and District 7-1A opponent Mountainair. Carrizozo continued its success on the day with a qualifying time of 1:37.31 for the boys 4x200 relay, while Tavi Nash hit 6-foot-2 in the high jump to become the
The perks of affiliation By Todd Fuqua Sports Editor todd@ruidosofreepress.com Two local men got to live out a dream of most baseball fans recently, spending the day playing ball on the field at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Will Rooney and Greg Widener took two days to experience everything the Major League Baseball facility – home of the Texas Rangers – has to offer. The pair, representing KRUI and W105 FM, were there as part of the Rangers’ annual affiliate day in mid-April to recognize affiliates of the Rangers radio network. Every year, they bring radio affiliates in, and they’ve been growing along with the popularity of the Texas Rangers,” Rooney said. “Two people from each station are able to come to the stadium. We got to just enjoy the day.” MTD Media, the parent company of KRUI and W105, has been a Rangers affiliate for several years, is the only affiliate in New Mexico and was the first affiliate outside of the state of Texas. The affiliate day gave Rooney and Widener a chance to see what makes the organization tick and why they’ve become so popular a draw. “Getting to a pair of World Series can make you a popular team, and so far, this year is going well,”
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MTD Media’s Greg Widener shags fly balls in the outfield of the Arlington Ballpark during affiliate day in April. Rooney said. Rooney and Widener actually came a day before the activities, getting to see a Rangers game in the Connie Mack Suite. On affiliate day, the pair were in the outfield shagging fly balls during Rangers practice, visiting the press conference and broadcast areas of the stadium, and even taking a few cuts in the batting cage when the players were done. “We met Greg Gentry, David Murphy, Nelson Cruz came by,” Rooney said. “They were all friendly and happy to see all of us that make the Texas Rangers network work.” While all of this may be things that most fans can only dream of, Rooney said the ballpark is open for tours, and encourages anyone who attends a game to take advantage of that option.
“The tours are great, you get to see the field, go into the press boxes and go places a lot of people don’t get to go,” Rooney said. As a Rangers affiliate, MTD Media has several tickets and fan packages to give away throughout the season on the New Mexico in the Morning show to its listeners, including one trip which keeps getting sweeter, according to Rooney. “We still haven’t worked out all the details, but we do know it will include airfare from Roswell to DFW, the Connie Mack Suite for four and a parking pass,” Rooney said. “It will be for the July 4 weekend for the series against the Houston Astros. It’s going to be a great ticket.” “The Connie Mack Suite is fantastic, it’s cool on hot days, there a restroom right there, it’s catered so you don’t
have to leave your seat for anything, it’s a great place to watch a game,” Rooney said. “There will be places all throughout southeast New Mexico to sign up and enter this contest. There’s still more we’re trying to do for this package. “It was a great weekend for the affiliates and some great games,” Rooney said. “You can’t beat live baseball and the fun stuff they have going on at the ballpark.”
leader in that event in all of Class 1A. “It thought it went very well,” said Carrizozo coach Trampus Pierson. “We got a lot of kids in there that needed in.” “We’ve had a team meeting to discuss the strategy and what we want to accomplish,” Pierson said. “We have a lot of girls with a lot of talent, and if they join together, they could do well at state. It’s just a matter of getting them all working together on the same goal.” There weren’t many state qualifying marks for Capitan, but that’s mainly because boys coach Collin Justiss is resting his athletes as much as possible for the Class 2A state meet. “We scratched near the end (of Tuesday’s meet) because we had runners dinged up and needed them healthy for state,” Justiss said. “We’re taking it day by day.” Even with all the scratches, Capitan was second behind Mountainair in
team points. Tory Padilla got a state qualifying mark in the long jump with 20 feet Tuesday, while Chase Caughron equaled his best height of 10-6 in the pole vault to re-qualify. The only Capitan girls to get qualifying marks on Tuesday were pole vaulters Kayln Hazen at 8-foot-6 and Lacy Rice at 7-6. In fact, pole vaulters are the only Lady Tigers to currently be qualified, joined by Aspen Caughron. There are only six girls competing for Capitan this season, meaning they little chance to run against other runners in practice. “It’s hard to get them to push themselves in practice as a result,” said Capitan girls coach Clifford Quinn. “I’m just hoping for personal bests at the district meet, and all will be coming back next season.”
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By Todd Fuqua Sports Editor todd@ruidosofreepress.com CARRIZOZO – The Carrizozo Quad track meet last Tuesday wasn’t even supposed to be a full blown meet, just a last chance for teams to get as many of their athletes qualified for the state meet as possible. Apparently, there were a lot of schools that still needed kids to qualify. Seven schools made the trek to Carrizozo High School, with most of the qualifiers coming in field events. Among those that were new qualifiers was Carrizozo’s Analicia Beltran, who threw the shot 32 feet on her first throw of the day to punch her ticket to Albuquerque for next week. Beltran also re-qualified in discus with a mark of 92 feet, 10 inches. The only other local qualifiers on the girls side were Kalyn Hazen and Lacey Rice of Capitan – who got marks of 8-foot-6 and 7-foot-6, respectively, in the pole vault – and Carrizozo’s Kaitlyn Pierson, who re-qualified with a 4-8 high jump. That didn’t mean there weren’t others competing. Corona’s Christy Huey wasn’t able to get a qualifying mark Tuesday, but has already secured her trip to state in high jump at a previous meet. She was one of only three Cardinals to make the trip to Corona. There haven’t been many meets coach Nickey Huey has been able to bring his athletes to this season. Still, Christy Huey – also qualified in the triple jump – will be joined by cousin Allysanne Huey, who is qualified in pole vault.
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