The Socorro boys track and field team dominated the Zimmerly Relays on March 7. The Warriors were paced by eight first-place performances, including three by senior sprinter Braden Mounyo.

“I’m going to go under 40 seconds today,” Mounyo said.

Russell Huffman | El Defensor Chieftain
Lady Warrior Estella Candelaria rounds the curve during a relay race.

That was before the state’s defending 300-meter hurdle champion ran his race, and if he hadn’t clipped a hurdle, it just might have happened. Mounyo picked up gold at last year’s state meet with a 40.62 clocking and, even with the bumped hurdle, ran a faster 40.40.

Mounyo’s 15.08 in the 110-meter hurdles was well under the 15.44 that earned him silver at state. He added to his big day with a first-place finish when he cleared 12-0 in the pole vault.

It was performances like Mounyo’s and a slew of solid finishes that propelled the Warriors to a first-place team finish with 111 points, which well out in front of Dexter High School’s 65.

Sprinter Isaiah Ocampo outran the field in the 100-meters and won by a full tenth of a second with a time of 11.59. Ocampo also picked up a pair of third places in the discus and shot put.

Sophomore Jay Lee was even more dominant in the 200 meters, running a 24.51, half a second ahead of Hot Springs Pedro Reyes’ 25.03.

Running with a cast on his hand didn’t hinder Lee in the sprints, but it did seem to cause him to drift and land awkwardly during the long jump. Still, Lee gutted it out as he jumped 19-6 to take his second gold medal.

The Lady Warriors are still missing several athletes who are involved in the basketball playoffs. However, they still got some strong finishes, including third place by distance specialist Abby

Russell Huffman | El Defensor Chieftain
Braden Mounyo dominated both hurdles races for first-place wins.

Cadol, who clocked 13:39.94 in the 3200 meters.
The Zimmerly Relays are named after long-time coach and teacher Charles Zimmerly, who still has his hand in coaching Socorro’s athletes. When he wasn’t busy helping judge the relay handoffs, he shared one of his stories.

Socorro’s track was still comprised of dirt when Zimmerly formed the first Lady Warriors track and field team. The coach had noticed the speed on the playground and wanted to translate that into wins for Socorro High School, but coaching girls can sometimes lead to new problems.

“We had this one girl, and man, she was fast. She was a real sprinter,” Zimmerly said.

When it came time for a big meet, Zimmerly heard that his crown jewel runner wouldn’t be able to run that day. After watching his athlete, there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with her, so he wondered why she declared herself unable to run.

“I had to think for a bit because I didn’t want to ask what might be an embarrassing question,” Zimmerly said. But I did ask her why she couldn’t run, and she told me she had just gotten her nails done and didn’t want to get dust on the polish.”

Zimmerly’s response was more colorful than his sprinter’s new nails, and she ran her race.

“Coaching girls can sometimes be a challenge,” Zimmerly said with a big grin.

Russell Huffman | El Defensor Chieftain
Isaiah Ocampo celebrates his 100-meter win.

100 Meter Dash – 15. Chavez, Stephanie 16.35; 18. Baca, Alex 17.44; 20 Morales, Marijo 18.25.
200 Meter Dash – 22. Baca, Alex 39.91; 23. Morales, Marij 41.31.
400 Meter Dash – 13. Lucero, Breanne 1:14.43.
800 Meter Run – 12. Gutierrez, Esther 3:19.14.
3200 Meter Run – 3. Cadol, Abby 13:39.94.
100 Meter Hurdles – 8. Zagrai, Anna 22.77.
300 Meter Hurdles – 6. Zagrai, Anna 1:07.39.
4×100 Meter Relay – 5. Socorro ‘A’ 58.64.
4×200 Meter Relay – 7. Socorro ‘A’ 2:27.67.
1600 Sprint Medley – 4. Socorro ‘A’ 5:23.00.
Long Jump – 10. Chavez, Stephanie 11-03.00; 15. Zagrai, Anna 10-04.25.
Shot Put – 8. Acosta, Val 22-04.00.
Discus Throw – 8. Acosta, Val 73-06.
100 Meter Dash – 1. Ocampo, Isaiah 11.59; 18. Arndt, Paul 13.51; 24. Scharle, Jordan 14.77.
200 Meter Dash – 1. Lee, Jay 24.51; 8. Arndt, Paul 28.36
400 Meter Dash – 4. Garza, Jeremiah 57.79; 13. Arndt, Paul 1:06.54.
800 Meter Run – 6. Burger, Kyle 2:22.64; 11. Watkins, Ben 2:33.94.
1600 Meter Run – 20. Chavis, Drizzton 7:07.36.
3200 Meter Run – 8. Sewell, Riley 14:46.73; 9. Demorest, Liam 15:31.42.
110 Meter Hurdles – 1. Mounyo, Braden 15.08; 4. Gonzales, Ruben 20.91.
300 Meter Hurdles – 1. Mounyo, Braden 40.40; 3. Burger, Kyle 53.68.
4×100 Meter Relay – 1. Socorro ‘A’ 47.01.
4×200 Meter Relay – 3. Socorro ‘A’ 1:45.67.
4×400 Meter Relay – 1. Socorro ‘A’ 4:06.74.
4×800 Meter Relay – 8. Socorro l ‘A’ 13:22.72.
1600 Sprint Medley – 6. Socorro ‘A’ 5:01.63.
High Jump – 4. Gonzales, Ruben 5-00.00; 4. Giron, Ivan 5-00.00; 4. Silva, Nazario 5-00.00.
Pole Vault – 1. Mounyo, Braden 12-00.00; 3. Munguia, AD 8-00.00; 4. Ocampo, Ezra 8-00.00.
Long Jump – 1. Lee, Jay 19-06.00; 17 Watkins, Ben 13-07.50; 19 Scharle, Jordan 13-00.50.
Triple Jump – 3. Barba, Josiah 34-00.00; 8. Gonzales, Rube 31-00.00.
Shot Put – 3. Ocampo, Isaiah 39-06.00; 9. Aldridge, Chad 33-01.50.
Discus Throw – 3. Ocampo, Isaiah 123-10; 7. Aldridge, Chad 105-05; 8. Dow, Kaden 96-04.
Javelin Throw – 3. Scarborough, Cenyon 115-09; 5. Ocampo, Ezra 109-02.

CORRECTION
Last week’s article about the Lady Warriors basketball win misidentified former coach Brittany McDaniel in a quote by Ariana Crespin. I apologize for the error — Russell Huffman

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor