Peter Dindinger — NMMI Sports Press

ALBUQUERQUE — It was the final day of the Class A-3A state track meet Saturday at the University of New Mexico Track & Field and Soccer Complex.

The New Mexico Military Institute boys captured fifth overall in the team standings with 33 total points. St. Michael’s captured the blue trophy with 69.25 points.

On the girls’ side of the competition, NMMI came in 12th out of 21 teams. St. Michael’s also took first, winning by a landslide 104 points.

Rolan Parscal captured the first medal of the day after taking fourth in the shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 3 inches.

“It was tough to take fourth knowing I could’ve done better,” Parscal said. “It’s always nice coming up to something like this. Never done it before, so I appreciated it.”

In the javelin competition, Gavin Gallegos captured third place with a mark of 144-04.

Alexandra LaBee compiled a throw of 30-11.25 to finish fifth in the shot put, which landed her a spot on the podium.

LaBee also finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.99.

During the 4x800-meter relay, the NMMI girls placed 13th after an overall time of 12:31.06. The relay team was made up of Christina Robertson, Arina Gancicova, Nina Aguilar and Sara Roth.

On the boys’ side of the 4x800, the Colts clocked in at 9:15.89 to take ninth place.

The Colt boys were able to step up onto the podium after finishing fifth in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 45.13.

Christopher Vega raced his way into third place after posting a time of 16.80 in the 110-meter hurdles.

Vega medaled once more in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44.21 as he placed fifth.

“Honestly, it feels great. That first heat yesterday I felt so confident and even today going into it,” Vega said after finishing the 110 hurdles. “I think I just had a bad start, but regardless I’m really appreciative to even just be here.

“I’ve gone through so much and just to be at state championships is something I never thought I’d be able to do. So, third place is a warm welcome.”

Tessa Walker captured third place in the 800-meter run after clocking in at 2:28.66. Mary Olvera posted a time of 2:47.95 to place 10th in the 800 run.

On the boys’ side of the 800 run, Leo Valadez finished eighth with a time of 2:12.84.

Walker shaved off two seconds from last year’s performance in the 800 at state. She credits former NMMI strength and conditioning coach Corey Bell for training her for this moment.

“I felt really good about it. I have been training a lot recently with Corey Bell, and he’s been the back of my head and my motivation for this,” Walker said after her race. “Last year I placed sixth in the 800.”

In the 4x200-meter relay, the Colt girls posted a time of 1:57.88 to finish eighth.

The girls’ 1,600-sprint medley relay team made up of Walker, LaBee, Daniela Laporte and Mary Olvera captured third place with a time of 4:44.58.

NMMI’s biggest moment of the two-day competition came during the boys’ 1,600-sprint medley when the team of Darrell Ochieng, Juan Badillo, William Castedo and Lance Miller captured the state title, first place, with a time of 3:46.96.

Miller raced ahead of second-place Cottonwood Classical during the final 200 meters to help bring the Colts on top. The overall time narrowly broke the state record of 3:38.20 set back in 2014.

The last time the Colt boys won a state title in a relay was in 2014 when they took first in the 1,600-meter event at the Class 2A level.