Monahans Boys Win West Texas Relays
    By Jessica Ray, Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News, March 13, 2007

Four out of the previous five years, the Monahans boys' track and field team won gold at the prestigious West Texas Relays at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa.  Saturday, the Loboes added title number five with 118.5 points, ahead of second-place Midland Christian with 94 points.

Odessa has been hosting the relays for 63 years.  This year, 26 schools participated in the two-day event in which competition is divided into Divisions 1 and 2.  Division 1 is reserved for varsity teams from 4A and 5A schools.  Smaller schools and JV teams from 4A and 5A schools compete in Division 2.  The Monahans team was one of fifteen competing for the Division 2 boys title.

In the high jump, Arnold Rodriguez took third place with a height of 6'2''.  Teammate Jarod Till placed fifth with 5'10".

Josh Smith placed fifth in the pole vault with 10'6".

In the triple jump, Russell Covington took second place with a distance of 43' 4.75".  Teammate Devon Fann placed sixth with 41'1".

Michael Murphree took the gold medal in the shot put with a personal best of 53'4.5".  Smith placed fourth with a throw of 42'5".  Murphree went on to win first place in the discus, as well, with a distance of 140' 4".

Arnold Rodriguez had a long jump of 21'7", good for second place behind Aarrhon Flores from Floydada who had a jump of 21'9".  Devon Fann followed in third place with a distance of 21'0".

The Loboes were off to a good start Saturday when they won first place in the 400-meter relay.  Their time of 44.33 sec. was enough to beat Greenwood's 45.16.

Flavio Armendariz placed fifth with a time of 16.88 sec. in the 110-meter hurdles.

In the 100-meter dash, Chris Bates placed second in 11.1, just .03 seconds behind Midland Christian's David Thomas.

The 800-meter relay team placed second with a time of 1 minute, 31 seconds.

Chris Roberson had a time of 23.67 sec. in the 200-meter dash, which gave him a third place finish.  Fellow Lobo Tyson Childress placed fifth in the event with a time of 23.70.

Josh Munoz placed third in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:01.21.  Brian Azuaje's time of 5:02.47 put him in fifth place.

Team Standings:

1. Monahans, 118.5; 2. Midland Christian, 94.3; 3. Abiliene Wylie, 70.4; 4. Fort Stockton, 69.5; 5.Seminole, 55; 6. Crane, 50; 7. Greenwood, 46; 8. Floydada, 32; 9. Lubbock  Coronado JV, 23.5; 10. Kermit, 20; 11. Odessa High JV, 16; 12. Lubbock High JV, 10; 13. Pecos, 8; 14. Permian JV, 4; and 15. Lubbock Monterey JV, 1.

The next meet for the Monahans JV boys is the Wildcat relays in Wink March 23, while the Varsity team will be a the Tall City Relays in Midland.

Keyed by Kaitlin Mitchell, Junior '07