The Goddard Rockets will get their second test of the season at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, when the boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams return to competition at the Jesus Fierro Invitational at Alta Vista Middle School in Carlsbad.
Goddard, Roswell, Hobbs, Carlsbad, Capitan and Mescalero Apache are all currently slated to compete.
For the Rockets, it’s another opportunity to build on a season-opening meet on Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Clovis Invitational at Ned Houk Park. That meet produced promising individual results despite both boys’ and girls’ teams finishing at the bottom of their respective fields.
Delaney leads Goddard girls
Eighth-grader Melanie Delaney emerged as Goddard’s top girls’ runner at the first meet of the season. Delaney covered the 5,000-meter course in 22 minutes, 48.68 seconds, placing 11th among 52 runners.
The Rockets finished last among the six teams competing. Roswell, Clovis, Hobbs, Randall of Amarillo, Texas, and Hereford of Hereford, Texas, also participated.
Juliana Gonzalez, Sariah Espinoza, Neveah Mireles, Chloe Orona and Nemaryah Riley competed for Goddard as well.
Flamme sets pace for boys
Sophomore Jason Flamme paced the Rockets’ boys team in Clovis, finishing the 5,000-meter race in 18:50.15 to place 11th among 55 runners. Like the girls, Goddard finished last in the team standings. Fort Sumner joined Goddard, Roswell, Clovis, Hobbs, Randall and Hereford in the boys’ field.
Xander Arenas-Gonzales, Alexander Casarez, Charles Heimark, Tristen Arenas-Gonzales, Hector Solo and Leonel Polo also competed for the Rockets.
Marshall Mecham can be reached at (915) 232-1793 or on X @mecham_marshall. Mecham serves with the New Mexico Local News Fellowship, which places emerging journalists in newsrooms across the state. Learn more at www.newmexicolocalnewsfellowships.org.
