Head Coach Wildcat Girl's Track - 1985 The Final Season Part 6

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP MEET

I'm going to let the professional sports writers tell the story of my last state championship meet in New Mexico. For the meet preview story I'm using the story written by Pancho Morris in the Hobbs News Sun.

Lady Wildcats on Threshold

     "For the good of the team.

     The Lovington Lady Wildcats, a tradition-rich track program, got a taste of how the other half lives during the 1985 season. But through hard work, a tough mental attitude and most important, team work, the Lady Wildcats are again on the threshold of a Class AAA state championship.

     Lovington's Lady 'Cats enter today's New Mexico Class AAA State Track Meet as one of the favorites. The two-time defending state titlists will get a stiff challenge from the likes of District 4AAA foes Tucumcari and Goddard, not to mention Aztec, Bloomfield, Las Vegas Robertson and Silver City.

     Action will begin this afternoon at 4 o'clock with the prelims in the running events. Tomorrow's finals start at 8:30 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon.

     The Lady Wildcats' road to state was anything but smooth. But retiring head coach Dana Anstey has never been prouder of a group of girls as he is this one.

     'I've been pleased with all my teams, but I've never been prouder of any previous group,' said Anstey. 'There was a lot of pressure on these girls but they never folded. And, I don't expect them to fold this weekend.'

     Up to this season Lovington had not lost a track meet to a New Mexico team in three years. And the Lady Wildcats had never lost to Tucumcari under Anstey. Though both streaks were ended, the losses were taken in stride. Anstey knew better days were ahead, especially when eight freshmen moved up after the junior high track season was complete.

     'We didn't expect near as much help from them (frosh) as we got,' said Anstey of the pleasant surprise. 'It renewed our confidence.'

     Once the frosh lent a much-needed helping hand, the Lady Wildcats were off and running. Lovington won its last three track meets by overwhelming margins, twice defeating Tucumcari, and locked up their seventh-straight district crown.

     Now comes the state meet.

     With freshman sprinter LJ joining state-meet record holder AB on the relays, Lovington has the potential to capture three of the four relays.

     LJ will also compete in the 100 and long jump, which she is expected to win, while AB will run the 200 and 400 where she holds the AAA meet records of 25.1 and 57.4 respectively.

     AR and VS could finish 2-3 in both the discus and shot put, trailing only WM of T or C. RB and CC, two more freshmen, also compete in the throwing events and could place in the top five.

     KY, a track-tested senior, should pick up points in the 800, where she is likely to run behind only state-meet record holder MM of Tucumcari.

     Lovington was also expected to pick up points in the 1500 and 3000 with BM entered. But BM had her leg put in a cast with a mysterious injury.

     'The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with it (the leg), but if she was experiencing that much pain he would put a cast on it and rest it for two weeks,' Anstey said, explaining what the doctor told him.

     Still, Anstey remains optimistic.

     'We have a legitimate chance to place in every event,' he said. 'That hasn't always been the case. We don't have to go up there and win every event to win state. We just need to run as well as we can in as many events as possible.

     'We're going there with the attitudes that things are going to go well for us. It's been the hardest year I've ever had to coach, what with injuries, illness and several people not coming out for various reasons. We didn't get our relays set 'til the last three weeks. But the kids always performed for the team all year. It's beginning to pay off.'

     The final payoff could be another team championship.

 This might be a good time to make note of how scoring was done in New Mexico at this time. Only the top 5 places earned points. Individual events were scored 7-4-3-2-1 and relays 10 -7 -5 -3 -1. By contrast when I finished coaching in Colorado scoring on a nine lane track was 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and was the same for individual and relays. I make note of this for two reasons. The first was to show how much harder it was to pile up large point totals at state in New Mexico and second to recognize that a lot of our athletes who were finalists in New Mexico would have scored points with a different scoring system.

I'm using Billy Dallas of the Lovington Daily Leader's state meet coverage to review the state results.

Lady Wildcats Take Third Straight Crown

     Trailing 48 - 43 with only three events remaining, Lovington's Lady Wildcats won all three events to explode past district rival Tucumcari 70 - 58 here Saturday night at Wilson Stadium in the New Mexico State Track and Field Championships.

     Lovington, capturing a record third consecutive Class AAA championship, was confirming its status as the top track and field power in the division. The Lady Wildcats have now won five AAA crowns since 1978.

     With only five girls returning from the 1984 state meet team, the Lady Wildcats ran up 70 points -- the best ever for a LHS team -- and established several other team records. Like winning six first places, three relays and both the 1600 meter and 800 medley relays for the first time ever. It was the first time in the school's history that a LHS team -- boys or girls -- had won a medley relay in the state meet.

     'I'm just extremely proud of all of them,' said Head Coach Dana Anstey, who has guided the Lady Cats to three titles in four years. 'Most importantly, the girls never lost their confidence when we were behind. They've been fighters all year and they showed it again Saturday. All of them will do anything I ask, especially when the going gets tough.'

    Actually, a top-notch Tucumcari team held a 41 -32 lead at one point in the finals after winning the 800 meter relay. The Rattlerettes sensed the chance at hand, but the Lady Wildcats weren't through yet. Junior AB cruised to a big 58.89 victory in the 400 meter dash, the first of two individual wins for AB, and ninth grader RB added a gutty fourth place 61.44 clocking. The nine points tied the score at 41 - 41.
     Tucumcari regained the lead in the 800 meter run where senior MM collected a first place in 2:22.7, but LHS senior KY finished fourth in the same race (2:25.21) to keep it close.
     The next event, the 800 medley relay, was undoubtedly the turning point. Lovington (KY - OD - SB and LJ) had the fastest prelim time at 1:54.91, but when the baton was passed to LJ for the 400 anchor, the LHS ninth grader was eight to ten meters behind the leaders. One of the runners in front of Jones was Tucumcari's LF.
     LJ, who had earlier won the 100 meter dash in a photo finish (12.66), stayed behind the leaders until the final curve and then turned on the burners. Running a 59.3 split, she sprinted to the tape in a school record 1:52.6. Tucumcari was third, leaving the score tied at 53 - 53.
     'Only in the last few weeks of the season did we decide to go for the medley,' reported Anstey, who is stepping down as head coach. 'We thought we were going to have to use LJ on the 1600 relay, but then RB came along and gave us a shot at the medley too.'  
     It was AB's turn again in the 200 meter dash and she didn't let anyone down. AB, the defending champion, blew the opposition off the track with a 25.62 win. Tucumcari didn't place. Lovington had a seven-point cushion going into the 1600 relay.
     Barring a disaster, the light at the end of the tunnel was in sight.
     The Lady Wildcats (MA - KY - RB and AB) had already set a state and school record 4:03.6 in the prelims behind AB's 57.09 anchor leg. In the finals, Lovington ran another solid 4:04.06 to win by a full four seconds. When AB crossed the finish line, the entire LHS rooting section roared its approval.
     Lovington's 400 meter relay team started the Lady Wildcats off in the right direction in the finals by upsetting Goddard and Aztec with a 50.59 rain-hampered win. Lovington (KY - AB - SB and LJ) was third in the prelims with a season's best 50.0. KY - OD - SB and LJ added a third place 1:47.78 in the 800 relay after timing a 1:46.98 during the prelims.
     Of course, the Lady Wildcats also picked up 10 key points in the field events where VS placed second in the shot put (36'5 1/2") and fourth in the discus (110'9") while AR was third in the discus (113'5") and CC was 5th with a 108'9" toss.
     LJ, who had the best mark in the state going into the long jump, missed qualifying for the finals by a mere quarter of an inch with a 16'3 1/4" effort. Other non-scoring performances included AR's 7th place 33' 1/2" throw in the shot, MA's 62.5 in the 400 and LS' 16.44 in the 100 low hurdles.
     Lovington also missed a chance to score points in the 1500 and 3000 meter runs when sophomore BM was unable to compete because of a knee injury. She was qualified for state in both races.
     Tucumcar's run at Lovington was sparked by LF and MM. LF, only a sophomore, scored 24 3/4 points. She won the high jump, long jump and 100 hurdles in addition to running on the Rattlerette's winning 800 relay team and third place medley relay team.
     MM captured the 800 and 1500 meter runs for a third straight year and anchored Tucumcari's 800 meter relay team.

And with that 1985 and my Lovington coaching career was a wrap!

1985 Seniors

I was proud that both of my sons had the opportunity to be a part of the 1985 state track and field championship for the Lovington Wildcats. Jeff was a pole vaulter and Jason was a state qualifier in the 300 hurdles; he ran his season best time in the prelims at state.

Senior JH winning one of his 8 individual state championships! The inscription on the picture says, "Dad; This is coming from a state champ. I want to thank you, for what you have done for me in the past. I'm the black guy in the middle."

A key to the success of both of our programs was the willingness of Scottie and I to work together and share coaches where ever help was needed. The balance of both of our teams was another key to our year in and year out success.

One final athlete I need to single out taught me a very important lesson to take with me to my coaching future. That young lady was RB. She was one of the freshmen that we brought up after the junior high season. She was a thrower and in her first meet I was only able to enter her in the shot put because of the 3 entry limit. I already had two good discus throwers and she had a freshman teammate who was also better than her in the discus. She placed 7th in the shot put which was nonscoring.

After the meet she told me that she wanted to run the 400. Nobody asks to run the 400; the 400 can cause more fights between coaches and athletes than any event. I didn't know if she could even run so I told her that I would think about it. She let me know that if she couldn't run then she didn't want to be on the team just to throw. I was shocked, it was considered an honor for a freshman to be asked to be a part of the varsity when their season ended no matter what their role was.

As it turned out, fortunately for me our best 400 runner was ill for the Lovington Invitational so we were holding her out of everything but one event. That opened up a spot for RB who had worked with the runners all week. All she did was win the meet and then go on to finish 3rd in District and 4th at the state championship meet and was part of our state championship, state record holding 4 x 400 relay team. Running her in the 1600 relay also allowed me to run LJ on the anchor leg of the 800 medley relay and she came from behind so to lead us to victory in that event.

If you look at the team picture, RB is the tallest girl on the team in the back row. I learned a lot from that young lady about not prejudging athletes.

This chart tells the story of the four years that I was fortunate enough to take girls to the state championship meet. Ironically the only two events we never scored in are the long jump and the 1500. The reason that is ironic is because we had our school record holders in both set to compete at the state championships in 1985 and both were expected to finish high. As you read earlier in this post, LJ didn't qualify for the finals in the long jump and BM was in a cast and didn't even attend the state meet. The lesson? Nothing is guaranteed when working with young athletes. And a second equally important lesson is that balance is an important key to success as a track program.

I came to Lovington an "accidental" coach; I left a very "intentional" coach grateful for all the experiences that I had in Lovington good and bad. They were all learning experiences.

Head Coach Wildcat Girl's Track - 1985 The Final Season Part 5

DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIPS

The District previews by Billy Dallas and Pancho Morris were very similar to the previews of the Lovington Invitational.

Hobbs News Sun - "Lovington's girls have a string of six consecutive district championships and have captured 7 out of the last 8. Like Watkins, this will be Lady 'Cat head boss Dana Anstey's farewell tour. Anstey, who has been the LHS coach for four seasons, announced that he was resigning earlier in the year.

     'I expect the meet to be a lot closer than last week,' said Anstey who believes the team title will go to either his Lady Wildcats or the Tucumcari Rattlerettes. 'Tucumcari will make some changes and run a lot of people in open events without hurting their relays too much. Goddard will again have a say in it.'

And from the Lovington Leader - "The Lady Wildcats destroyed rival Tucumcari by more than 60 points in last Saturday's Lovington Invitational to avenge an earlier loss to the Rattlerettes. Despite the overwhelming turnaround, LHS head coach Dana Anstey isn't counting Tucumcari out just yet.

     'We beat them pretty good last week, but I feel it'll be a close meet,' Anstey reports. 'Tucumcari was doing a lot of experimenting at our meet and they didn't run some of their top people in the individual events like they'll do this week. I look for Goddard to be a deciding factor. A lot depends on which team Goddard hurts the most'.

Both the boys and girls dominated the district meet and continued their dominance of District 4AAA. The boys won their 16th in a row while the girls won their 7th in a row and 8th of 9. 

Just like the Lovington Invitational the final scores were not even close. Lovington 119, Tucumcari 79, Goddard 73, Portales 21 and Artesia 16. We were going to state with a lot of confidence and we believed that we had more than answered all the early season questions. I was quoted in the Hobbs News Sun after the meet, "After a rough start, for them to come through and win this one as big as they did shows character," Lady Wildcat head coach Dana Anstey said. "We had good performances from everyone all day long. The key was the good overall performances."

"We're pleased to be district champions again," commented Anstey, who has also resigned his coaching duties. "We had a lot of personal bests and we set three school records. Now we plan to concentrate on state and do our best. I feel we have as good a chance as anyone."

'Lovington, which is qualified in every event except the high jump and 300 low hurdles, is among the favorites. Tucumcari, Goddard, Aztec, and Las Vegas Robertson are all contenders.'

A personal highlight for me at this meet was seeing my son Jason place 5th in the meet but run a state qualifying time in the 110 high hurdles!

The last of the questions would be answered at the State Championship in Albuquerque.

Head Coach Wildcat Girl's Track - 1985 The Final Season Part 4

The Second Season - Part 2

Another article that came out just prior to our home meet was written by Billy Dallas in the Lovington Leader. In his "Dallas Report" he wrote the following:

     "Sure the kid can hit, but he's got  two left feet."

     The remark is attributed to Jersey Joe Walcott, then the heavyweight champion of the world and a future opponent of one Rocky Marciano. Most everyone over forty can recall the ending of that story. Marciano knocked out Walcott for the title and did the same thing in a return bout on the way to becoming the first and only unbeaten heavyweight champion in the history of boxing.....

     In the early 1970s, a kid from Louisiana Tech University was said to have all the tools to become one of pro football's greatest quarterbacks. Even so, Terry Bradshaw had a fair share of critics. Most of the question marks centered around Bradshaw's ability to think. To put it bluntly, his critics didn't feel Bradshaw was smart enough to play quarterback in the NFL.

     Before his career was over, Bradshaw led the perennial doormat Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl championships. He usually called his own plays too....

     Closer to home, I can remember a time when a number of people right here in Lovington, New Mexico were of the opinion that one Scottie L. Watkins would never hack it as a varsity coach. That was before Scottie took over the Wildcat track program in 1976. Boy, were they wrong!

     Scottie has silenced almost all of his critics today -- save a few who keep insisting that he's always loaded with talent -- and he is recognized by his peers as one of the top coaches in the state. I suspect that any contempt towards Scottie, should there be any, stems from a simple case of jealousy.

     Today's column is dedicated to Scottie Watkins and two other Lovington High School head coaches, Dana Anstey and Gene Murphy. By now most Lovington sports fans are aware of the fact that all three men resigned their coaching positions at LHS. Dana Anstey is the girls' track and cross country coach while Murphy coaches both the boys' and girls' golf squads.

     Together, the three have won nine state championships and a total of 25 district titles during their high school coaching stints. On the state level, that's 75 percent of the 12 championships Lovington has claimed during the last decade. In district competition, the percentage is 67 percent out of a total of 37 4AAA titles.

     Watkins, who is also retiring from teaching at the conclusion of the current school year, is the winningest coach in the history of Lovington High School. His teams have won six state track crowns in the nine seasons he's been at the Wildcat helm. The Wildcats have been second twice and third once under Watkins at the state meet. He was also an assistant coach on the 1969 and 1970 state champion teams.

     Watkins' district record is equally impressive. In fact, during the nine years he's headed up the track program, Lovington has yet to be unseated as the district champion. Throw in four boys and two girls' 4AAA cross country titles for a grand total of 15 district championships. Scottie isn't through yet either.....

     Anstey is bound for Colorado Springs, Colo. where he hopes to land a coaching position in the next couple of months or so. An eight-year veteran of the local school system, Anstey has greatly influenced both the track and cross country programs. After serving as Watkins' assistant in 1981, Anstey was promoted to girls' head coach the following year. Besides winning three straight district titles, Anstey's Lady Cats own two class AAA state championships in track (1983 and 1984) and a state runner up finish in 1982.

     His impact on the girls' cross country program has been just tremendous. Prior to Anstey's arrival, a southern New Mexico school had never placed in the top three at the state level. Under Anstey, the Lady Wildcats were third in 1982, second in 1983 and fourth last fall. Lovington girls have won a trio of district titles with Anstey heading up the program.....
     Turning to golf, Gene Murphy is stepping down after seven successful seasons. Murphy, who has coached at Taylor School since 1966 and will stay on in that capacity, has some pretty fair credentials himself. In 1984, Murphy's Wildcat golf team made history by winning the school's first state championship in the sport. That capped off a string of three consecutive 4AAA crowns.
     The girls' golf program has also made plenty of progress because of the work and dedication of Murphy. The Lady Wildcats placed third at state in 1984 after finishing fourth the previous year. Lovington, the winner of last year's first official district golf title, is well on the way to repeating this spring.....
     Having worked around and with Scottie Watkins for a number of years, I was not surprised by his retirement. After 25 years of teaching and coaching he has earned himself a rest. No one can argue with that.
     In the case of Dana Anstey, I have often wondered why he might be leaving, but the development did not come as a shock. Dana informed me at the start of the current school year that this would be his last year in Lovington.
     Gene Murphy? Now this one was a surprise. I had heard rumors of the sort, but only recently did I learn that Gene was actually checking it in.
     A couple of days ago, I had the chance to talk with both Murphy and Anstey about their decisions. I was of the opinion that Murphy might be unhappy about developments dealing with the golf schedule, and that Anstey wasn't entirely satisfied with his situation in the system. In being fair with both these men and everyone else concerned, I asked each one for a statement. Both were direct and to the point.
     "I'm not leaving with any hard feelings or anything like that," said Anstey. "I simply feel like I have done all I can do here. I also feel the administration has been supportive of my program. I'm certainly going to miss working with the kids here in Lovington, but I do think I am leaving the program in good shape. Of the twelve girls who have qualified for state this year, only three are seniors."
     Murphy remarked, "I'm not unhappy with anything. My reason for resigning as golf coach was because I have a full schedule teaching and coaching at Taylor. I have a lot of responsibility and it's gotten where my energy level just isn't as high as it used to be. The golf program will continue to progress. We have a lot of good, young players and they're going to get stronger."
     So much for that.....
     I can say that I consider Scottie Watkins, Dana Anstey and Gene Murphy all to be friends of mine. They are also very fine coaches. It's been a long time, if ever, since Lovington has lost three of this caliber in a single school year...

Lovington Invitational: Our second opportunity to qualify state was at our home invitational. Scottie and I were given a really nice tribute from the fans as well as coaches and athletes from all of the schools attending.

     

While the boys were overwhelming favorites the same can't be said for the girls. According to Dallas:
       "It is a different story in the girls' division where the Tucumcari Rattlerettes present a major problem for the Lady Wildcats. Lovington has long dominated the district teams, but Tucumcari defeated Lovington in the only meeting between the two schools this spring, an 80 - 70 decision at Tucumcari's Rattler Relays. 
     Lovington, its ranks bolstered by the addition of eight ninth graders, must have a superb performance if the Lady Wildcats are to repeat again. According to LHS coach Dana Anstey, the team title might not be decided until the last event of the meet, the 1600 meter relay."

The preview by Morris in the Hobbs News Sun was similar:

     You've got to know when to hold them,

Know when to fold them.

Know when to walk away,

When the dealin's done.

- Kenny Rogers (from "The Gambler")

     "The dealin' will be done by Dana Anstey and George Chavez, a couple of gamblers in short pants disguised as successful head track coaches.

     Instead of a riverboat on the mighty Mississipp', Anstey and Chavez will be doing their gamblin' on the track in Saturday's Lovington Invitational.

     Anstey's Lovington Lady Wildcats and Chavez' Tucumcari Rattlerettes are the teams to beat in the girls' division of tomorrow's meet, which gets underway at 1 o'clock with the running prelims and field events. The finals start at 6:00 p.m.

     On the boys' ledger all the smart money is on the Lovington Wildcats to once again overwhelm the field, which includes all District 4AAA teams plus Ruidoso.

     Though all the cards won't be put on the table for this second qualifying meet of the season, there won't be any cards up the sleeves of Anstey and Chavez, two friendly coaching adversaries who know one another's teams as well as their own.

     'I've got a lot of respect for George as a coach,' said Anstey. 'He brings his kids along well. It's a good rivalry. We always enjoy running against Tucumcari.'

     And for all but this season, Lovington also enjoyed beating Tucumcari like a base drum -- all the time.

     But the Rattlerettes defeated the Lady Wildcats for the first time ever in cross country. And, a few weeks ago Tucumcari defeated Lovington at the Rattler Relays.

     Tucumcari has not run in Lovington since 1983. A favorite ploy of Chavez is too keep his team's talent a secret until the district meet. However, there is no hiding the Rattlerettes' talent."

And the meet itself? What was the outcome after such a big buildup? And so much focus on Coach Watkins and myself leaving? Simply put, the challenge from Tucumcari was more than met by the Lady Wildcats. The girls qualified for state in 13 of 16 events and of the 37 performances by Lady Wildcats, 22 were personal bests including school and meet record performances.

The final scores were certainly a confidence builder for the girls going into the District Championship the next week. Lovington 131 1/2; Tucumcari 72, Goddard 59 1/2, Portales 25, Artesia 16. Ruidoso did not bring their girl's team.

Head Coach Wildcat Girl's Track - 1985 The Final Season Part 3

We still had two meets left before we entered the state qualifying part of the season. I found a poster that said, "BELIEVING IS THE BEGINNING OF A DREAM COMING TRUE" and I thought it was a really appropriate slogan for our team to use the rest of the year. With all the people asking questions about our not winning meets the last thing I wanted was for the girls to start doubting themselves. In our Tucumcari premeet newsletter I shared the slogan and the poster and it went with us on the bus the rest of the season.

Tucumcari was an important meet for us for two reasons. First was the fact that we were coming off a tough weekend where we finished 2nd in two meets and we found ourselves answering a lot of doubters. Second was that Tucumcari was a school in our District and we had dominated district opponents in recent years including being District champions ever year but one. Once again we found ourselves finishing second in a meet as Tucumcari beat us 80 - 70 in a 9 team invitational. So despite the fact that we beat 7 teams, it was still a loss in the eyes of people who were spoiled by our two year winning streak against New Mexico teams. We had enough good performances and enough who came up just short that I knew we had a good chance to beat them when we saw them again. I told the girls, "You've got nothing to be ashamed of with a second place finish, we were beaten by a very good track team and we'll get two more shots at them (3 counting state)." 

Our final meet before state qualifying meets started was the Roswell invitational where we finished 3rd behind AAAA Roswell and AAAA Hobbs while beating 7 other teams. A point of emphasis after this meet once again was the importance of every point and every place. "To again show you the importance of every point and every place, we beat Goddard by only 3 points and we got 5 points from 5 fifth place finishes. They're all important ladies and they get more so every week."

STATE QUALIFYING - "Second Season"

There were two ways to qualify for state. First you could run, jump or throw and meet or beat a standard; if you did it in a designated state qualifier meet, usually the last two meets before district, then you would qualify for state. The second way was to meet or beat the standard in the District meet or by placing in the top three at the District meet. In 1985 we were allowed unlimited entries at district so people were assured of at least one chance to qualify. I always considered the state qualifying meets the start of a second season because of the added importance of qualifying and also because that was when our freshmen athletes completed their junior high season and we always invited them to finish the season as part of the high school team. And those freshmen are where we finally got the depth we needed to be a complete track team.

Prior to the meet I told Billy Dallas the Lovington Daily Leader sportswriter, "Our top priority this week is to qualify everyone we can for state, including our relay teams," says Anstey, who is assisted by Patti Ann Fort and Paul Payne. "We want to do well in the team scoring, but our main concern is qualifying our athletes for the state meet."

Dallas wrote, "The Lady Wildcats have been strengthened by the addition of eight girls from Lovington's ninth grade Border Conference championship team. The most outstanding newcomer is LJ, undefeated in every race from 100 to the 800 during the junior high track season. LJ, who has times of 12.61 in the 100 and 26.0 in the 200, is expected to be a big help in the relays. CC, 105'4" in the discus, is another ninth grader with a lot of potential."

Mission Accomplished! I'll let Billy Dallas tell it. "Lovington's girls turned in their strongest performances of the season with a convincing 116 - 50 victory over Goddard. Bolstered by the addition of a talented group of ninth graders, the Lady Wildcats qualified for state in 11 of 16 events.

     "The ninth graders coming up sort of inspired the whole team," said Lady Wildcat coach Dana Anstey at the conclusion. "We had more depth and we were more competitive. I was especially pleased with the performances by AB, BM and LJ and with the way our relay teams ran."

Our home invitational was up next with another chance to run against Tucumcari. Before the meet though Pancho Morris wrote the following in his "Around the Track" column for the Hobbs News Sun:

LHS Losing Its Coaches

Help Wanted!

     Lovington High School will need a couple of head track and cross country coaches next season.

     Scottie Watkins, currently the Wildcats' head coach, turned in his letter of resignation last week to Lovington Superintendent Ross Black. Watkins decision to retire at the conclusion of the 1984-85 school year was the second coaching vacancy to open this year at LHS.

     Early in the fall Lady Wildcat head coach Dana Anstey informed Black and the Lovington School Board that he was also planning to leave when the school year ended.

     "I turned in my letter of resignation last week," confirmed Watkins who has spent 25 years teaching and another four years in the service.

     Of  that quarter of a century teaching, Watkins has been in and out of coaching for all but five years. He is currently in his 10th year as the Wildcat head coach.

     In the nine previous seasons, Watkins' teams have won six state track championships, finished as the runner-up two other times and placed third one year.

     "All things must come to an end sometime or another," said Watkins, who plans on remaining in Lovington. "You never know where the good Lord is going to take you. I've reached most of my goals. The hardest part is being away from the kids."
     Anstey concurred.
     "There's no doubt I'm going to miss it," said Anstey. "I wouldn't trade my last eight years here for anything else in the world. However, it's time to move on. I feel I've accomplished all I can here in Lovington."
     Anstey has coached the Lady Wildcats to two back-to-back state championships during his four-year reign as the boss. The LHS girls are currently the two-time defending state champions and could make it three-for-three in another three weeks.
     And, as the Lady Wildcat cross country coach, Anstey has guided his teams to top finishes in the state over the past four seasons.
     "I came into a great program," said Anstey. "We have a good junior high program and a lot of tradition. Plus, I've been fortunate to have some excellent assistant coaches."
     Though Anstey won't take any credit for Lovington's track dynasty, there is no doubt that his influence is the reason for the Lady Wildcats' cross country success.
     In four seasons Lovington's girls have run 6th, 3rd, 2nd and 4th in the state cross country meet.
     Whoever takes over will have some fast shoes to keep up with.

          

Head Coach Wildcat Girl's Track - 1985 The Final Season Part 2

Our next competitions were going to be back to back; something that we had done to mimic the state meet midseason. Unfortunately it was going to be tougher this year than in the past because we just didn't have the depth we were used to. In addition to losing athletes that I mentioned before we lost a good young distance runner who got pregnant, Another thing that made these two meets tougher than usual is that the first one was a night meet in Andrews, Texas followed by a meet we had to leave early for the next day in Portales, New Mexico. An article from the Hobbs News Sun gives a good description of the first meet in Andrews:

MAKING TRACK FUN
by Stephen Schroats

     It won't be business as usual this week but it should be a fun and revealing experience for the track teams from Lovington High School.

     First, the LHS tracksters will run twice in two days rather than the once-a-week norm for the regular season. Second, Thursday's Oil Patch Relays that start at 4 0'clock in Andrews, Texas, won't be a typical meet by any standards.

     "It's a fun meet. The kids really enjoy it," said Lovington girls' coach Dana Anstey about the meet featuring seven relay races and a sort of tag-team effort in the field events. "This kind of meet is unusual for our area but they have them in Albuquerque and quite often in Texas. It gives some of our kids a chance to participate in relays and get some awards they might not usually get."

     Everyone who competes in the meet will do so in a relay capacity. There are no individual races but there are some interesting relays. How about, for example, the 4 x 70 hurdle shuttle where each team takes two lanes with oppositely aligned hurdles. The leadoff leg runs 70 meters worth of hurdles and tags the next team member who sprints down the adjoining lane and continues the pattern -- somewhat like a swimming relay. (There was no tagging involved).

     At last year's meet when Lovington's girls finished second and the hurdles and field events were scored individually, Anstey's troops had three of the top six hurdlers. This year the Lady Wildcats won't even enter the shuttle hurdle relay because LS is the only hurdler Anstey's depth-shy team boasts. Though LS would definitely contend in any individual hurdles race, Anstey said he'd be "a little reluctant to get anyone hurt" by trying to throw together a hurdle team.

     There will be the usual fare of 400, 800 and 1600-meter relays as well as a 3200-meter relay made up of four 800-meter legs; a sprint medley relay of 100, 100, 200, 400 exchanges; and a distance medley of 800, 400, 1200 and 1600 legs.

     "This is different only because of so many different handoffs," said Anstey. "We've got people who are not used to getting handoffs, like (distance runner) KY who'll run in the distance relay. There are others who haven't run a relay since junior high."
     Field events will be worked in another unique manner. In every event a team will add the marks of its three best competitors for a team score. Those scores will be compared to determine the event's place winners. If a team doesn't have three competitors, or even two, the event comes complete with a generous "minimum score" that is given in lieu of other team members.
     "Say you have two discus throwers that go over 100 feet and a weak third thrower or no third at all. You can use the minimum score to round out your total," said Anstey. "The minimum gives you an incentive to enter whoever you have."
     So does the relay-style scoring that awards points in relay events on a 20-16-12-8-4-2 basis, and in field events on a 15-12-9-6-3-1 scale -- even though LHS joins just four Texas teams in the boys' and girls' divisions.
     Lovington's girls will be caught a bit short as three competitors -- quarter-miler MA, sprinter SB and distance runner supreme BM -- will miss Thursday's fun and games because of a school band commitment in Clovis.
     But the trio should be ready to bounce back into action on Friday when Lovington competes the other half of this week's double with a meet in Portales. The back-to-back competitions should give LHS athletes a taste of what will be expected of them a little later this year. 
     "The two meets in a row is a good test because it duplicates the state meet situation," said Anstey. "That's why we like to do it in the middle of the season. More than what I would see in the kids, this situation lets the kids see something in themselves as to what type of shape they're in. At state they might have to go four events on Friday and the same four on Saturday -- hopefully. It's good to see how you handle that."
     It will also be interesting to see how Lovington's girls respond after last week's Hobbs Invitational where they lost a New Mexico meet for the first time in three seasons.
     "It was so darn cold and windy that a lot of our kids are sore this week and fighting off colds or viruses," Anstey Said. "We've pretty much taken it easy this week knowing that we'd get a good hard workout Thursday before Friday's meet".

Despite losing some quality athletes to other commitments the team went to Texas and competed well, finishing 2nd to host Andrews 162 - 138. In the process they set 3 meet records including the team high jump record where distance runners were two of our three high jump competitors. At Portales the next day we again finished 2nd; our second loss in New Mexico this season. Despite some outstanding performances we also had some lackluster efforts and that cost us a 92 1/2 - 72 loss to Tatum the state champion from A last year.

Now the questioning really started. "Ladies let's get the main point straight first. I'm proud of your efforts this past weekend, as are coaches Fort and Payne. Keep up those kind of efforts and we'll accomplish all of the goals that we set as individuals and as a team. People are asking me, 'Why are you losing?'; as I told one reporter, 'when you run against 12 teams in two days, get beat by two of them and defeat 10, that's not losing.' 

A different reporter from the Hobbs News Sun wrote an article that he called "A Sports Analysis". In it he was very clear about everything I had been saying.

Track Is More Than Running, Jumping, Sunning

by Pancho Morris 

     Track meets are more than just running, jumping and sunning.
     What separates track from every other sport is that it is not just one sport. As many as six different events can take place simultaneously. Being in six different places at one time is impossible, unless -- of course -- you happen to be Dana Anstey of Lovington.
     Anstey, who has coached the Lady Wildcats to back-to-back state championships, seems to be everywhere at track meets. Assisted by Patti Ann Fort and Paul Payne, an event does not take place without Anstey somewhere in the vicinity, continuously offering encouragement, checking on injuries and making sure the athletes are stretching properly before each upcoming event.
     While some coaches prefer to watch the action from Anstey is always part of what's going on the field. Lately, a lot has been going on in the Lady Wildcat camp.
     For example, Lovington has failed to win its last three track meets. Is the dynasty that Anstey constructed crumbling? Probably not.
     While no championship trophies have been taken home, how can beating eight teams and losing to one be considered a losing effort?
     The Lady 'Cats finished second to a tough and talented Tatum Coyote squad Friday in Portales after Thursday night's runner-up spot in Andrews, Texas. Lovington was also second last weekend in the three-team Hobbs Invitational.
     Though most observers only remember the state championships, only the astute followers of LHS track remember that Lovington did not finish on top in three consecutive track meets last year. And that was when Lovington had an enormous amount of depth.
     This year the numbers of talented runners are fewer and Anstey has been doing a juggling act with his relays. Just when it appears everything is in its proper balance, one or two girls won't be able to run and the juggling starts all over again.
     "After Friday's meet, one of the girls came over and told me she will be glad when everything is finally organized," Anstey said, explaining the plight of the relay situation.
     Lovington's revolving relay door took another turn on Friday. In the 1600-meter relay Anstey turned to miler CR to run the opening 400-meter leg when AB was unable to compete and no other sprinters had any quarters left to run.
     A miler running a quarter? CR is no AB, but she did a commendable job and kept the Lady Wildcats within striking distance. When regulars MA, CR, and KY took the baton, Lovington wound up second to Fort Sumner.

******

     Speaking of AB, the question around Portales was, "What's wrong with AB?"

     Answer: Nothing.

     AB had a tough day. She lost to TB in the 100 and JH in the 400 -- two state champions -- and could not finish the meet. A look at her times, however, reveals that the Lovington junior was not far off of last year's golden performance.

     In '84 AB ran 12.5 in the prelims and 12.68 in the finals of the 100. This year AB ran identical 12.84s into the wind. In the 200, AB clocked a 25,72 in the prelims and 26.06 in the finals a year ago. AB and TB dead-heated in the 200 prelims in 25.9.

     A year ago, after AB swept TB in the sprints the question was: "What's wrong with TB?"

     With TB having a hand -- actually two legs -- in five victories Tatum defeated the Lady Wildcats. Everyone knows that there is not any Class A teams standing in the way of Tatum winning state title No. 3 in May.

     And there may not be any District 4AAA teams in the way of Lovington, which defeated Goddard, Portales and Artesia, all 4AAA competition, on Friday. The only 4AAA team not present was Tucumcari and Lovington will get a chance to run against the Rattlerettes on Saturday in Tucumcari.

      "That's what we look at," said Anstey, referring to the district competition. 'Sure we're disappointed we lost, but we lost to a very good team'"

     Indeed Tatum appears to have a lock on the state track championship for the next four years, barring an unforeseen disaster.

     Outside of TB, a senior, the majority of Tatum's talent will be back next year, and the year after that, and the year after that.

Up next we had two more meets before we entered the state qualifying part of the season!

Head Coach Wildcat Girl's Track - 1985 The Final Season Part 1

The 1985 season would prove to be an interesting one for a couple of reasons and I will try to cover them in here. The first reason is because it was going to be my last year coaching in Lovington; additionally it was also Scottie's last year, he was retiring altogether and I was moving to Colorado Springs at the end of the school year. Another reason that the season was interesting was because so many people were questioning whether the girls were a good team or not. I will quote directly from some of the media articles from both the Hobbs and Lovington newspapers so it will be obvious what I mean about the girls being questioned. 

One advantage of coaching in a small town is that you are 'the only game in town'; you are the only track team that the local paper is covering so they will often write about things that in a larger town would not even be noticed. Additionally the fact that we were a very successful team with a rich tradition made the spotlight shine even brighter and run over to the sports pages in the paper in the bigger neighboring town. However that same advantage can quickly become a disadvantage when you are put under the microscope when things aren't going the way that fans and sportswriters think they should be going. Hopefully this post will make clear what I am talking about.

Record Book from 1985

Normally our competitive season didn't start until March but this year there was a new meet scheduled in Albuquerque on the 1st of February. I'm going to let the various newspaper accounts tell the story.

     From the Hobbs News Sun - "A peek outside will convince most anyone that this is not track season weather --- snowy, cold, windy. On second thought, maybe it is.
     No matter the case, it is a track weekend for a bundled up bundle of Lovington boys and girls as they compete in the UNM High School Indoor Track Meet all day today in Albuquerque's Tingley Coliseum.
     As of noon yesterday, Lovington girls' track coach wasn't sure if the Wildcats would be allowed to make the trip because of poor weather conditions. But Anstey and boys' coach Scottie Watkins got their troops on the road and hope to show some resemblance of the Lovington teams that swept both AAA titles last May.
     'UNM is putting on a real class meet,' said Anstey of today's gathering of track teams. 'The only thing I'd like to see different is for this to come two or three weeks later into the season when it would coincide with the outdoor season. Then we wouldn't be trying to peak now, back off, and peak again later'.
     But Anstey is very happy just to have this rare opportunity to get his thinclads in some high-powered competition this early in the year. 'This will be a good experience for the kids,' said Anstey. 'The chances for them to run indoors are few and far between. We've only gone to two other indoor meets in my five years here. We won the Lubbock Christian Invitational in 1982 and haven't been invited back since'.
     'It's hard to say how anyone will do because of the limited amount of work we've had,' Anstey said, whose team began workouts on Monday. 'AB is limited because of basketball, but she'll do well anyway'.

     From the Lovington Daily Leader - "While Lovington has long been a power in class AAA track and field, the Wildcats and Lady Wildcats will be competing against all classes in the indoor state finals. Last year, Albuquerque Highland took the boys' team title while Albuquerque Eldorado won the girls' crown. Both are class AAAA schools.
     'I really don't know what to expect since this is our first year to run the meet,' says Lady Wildcat head coach Dana Anstey, who has picked up two state championships and a trio of district titles in his three seasons at the LHS helm. 'The Albuquerque schools are likely to have the strongest teams entered, but as far as individuals, I really can't say at this time.'
     Anstey and assistant Patti Ann Fort have seven girls scheduled to compete. The Lady Wildcats are entered in most of the running events, but they are minus and field event competitors.

We had a good meet with the boys winning and the girls finishing second behind AAAA Albuquerque Eldorado 68 - 52. Eight of the top 10 teams were AAAA schools. A total of 35 teams competed. Our top runner was still involved with basketball and other than a few weekend practices on her own she certainly wasn't track ready but you wouldn't know it from her performance. The other 5 girls who competed were all cross country runners who competed in the Fall and had continued working out in an off season program. After the meet the Albuquerque Journal ran the following article:

The headline read: "Lovington's AB Glad She Listened to Coach"
     "Lovington's AB didn't want to run the 440-yard race, and her coach didn't force her to. But she was pleasantly surprised afterward.
     AB defeated Eldorado's Alisha King by four seconds running the 440 in 1:00.08 at the second annual New Mexico State Invitational Indoor Meet Friday at Tingley Coliseum.
     'I was real surprised,' said AB. 'I begged my coach (Dana Anstey) not to run it. He told me I'd regret it if I didn't'.
     AB, a member of the Wildcat basketball team, also enjoyed her first 60-yard dash, finishing second.
     'I love track,' she said. 'The basketball team has won only one game, but it's taught me how to lose.'
     AB ran the 440 in lane one. 'I never started a race without starting blocks, ' she said. 'I didn't know what to do, but I bent down and acted like I knew what I was doing.'

Because it was going to be six weeks between the indoor meet and our first scheduled outdoor meet we knew we had to do some things to keep the kids motivated to practice and stay focused on long-term goals. One thing that we did was a lot of fun for the girls and helped provide answers that we didn't even know we needed for an upcoming meet. We had a six event competition where all of the girls did all of the events that they were physically capable of doing and then we ranked them based on performance and awarded points in each event. Then we totaled the points so they could see how they finished in the competition. It was fun for the kids and they worked harder than if it had just been a practice effort.

Another thing that we did was keep track of practice performances so that the girls could see their improvement as well as how they were doing relative to their teammates. Finally we set up a practice-scrimmage dual meet with AAAA Carlsbad and that gave all of the girls who were healthy a chance to compete; we still had a lot of girls playing basketball so it was a good opportunity for the others to compete in events they may not have if we had a complete team. While it was an unscored meet our managers did keep track and had the meet been scored we would have tied 53 - 53. It was a great opportunity to emphasize the importance of every point and doing your best in every event. One negative that showed its head during this part of the season and surprisingly impacted some of our team was chickenpox. We lost some girls temporarily and some even permanently because they fell behind in classes by not keeping up when they were home or completing their make up work before the end of the term.

Once again we started our competitive outdoor season in Texas at the Mustang Relays in Andrews. We had a very good team performance winning 172 - 135 over host Andrews and 4 other teams. Carlsbad the team we scrimmaged was 3rd with 125. In the process of winning we set a meet record for most points scored as well as three event meet records. "It certainly took all of you doing your best for you to win this championship."

Unlike recent years we didn't run multiple back-to-back- meets in Texas to start the season; we returned to New Mexico to run a three team meet with AAAA schools Hobbs and Clovis. "Ladies, this meet will be a real challenge for you individually and more importantly, for us as a team. We're still trying to fit all the pieces together and therefore our relays are still inconsistent. We understand that and all we ask is that you do your best. If you do, the results will take care of themselves." We finished 2nd behind Hobbs losing by 4 points 63 - 59. Clovis scored 51 so it was a close meet. It was the first time in over two years that we lost to a New Mexico team regardless of class. While the coaches were proud of the girls' efforts and knew we weren't the team we had been the past two years yet, and might not ever be, we knew that we just had to be patient and continue believing in what we knew worked; the girls weren't as easily convinced that everything would be ok.

Unfortunately I found myself having to write and distribute the following essay the next week before we competed again:

WINNER OR WHINER?

    Are you a winner or a whiner? You can't be both no matter how good your performances are. From today on, you're going to have to decide which you're going to be and we don't have any room on our TEAM for Whiners. Complaining about what or how many events you run will stop right now. Some of you will try to say, "I was only joking", that's a cop out, complaining is complaining no matter how funny you might think you are. We don't think it's funny or cute and we don't want to hear any more of it. We have a job to do as a TEAM, go back and read your handout about your responsibility to the TEAM and our responsibility to you. We're handling our end of it. Are you?

     I know this only applies to very few of you but as a TEAM, we're going to get the problem out in the open right now because many of you are as tired of listening to it as we are. Most of you would try to run up the side of a building if we asked you to and we recognize and appreciate that attitude. Those few of you who apparently think you're better than the TEAM need to either change your attitude or find something else to do.

     We have the potential to win State again or at least perform very well there but it will take everyone doing their best at whatever is asked of them. Patterns you set now, both positive and negative, will last throughout the season. Let's get rid of the whining and crying now and think and act in a positive manner. The last team I had that had this attitude from some of the athletes should probably have won State but they were beaten before we ever left Lovington because so many of them thought they were doing more than their share or someone wasn't doing enough.

     The more you complain, the easier it is to convince yourself that you can't do something and pretty soon you'll be right, you can't.

     There will be no more negative attitudes on this team. Either take an I CAN attitude and remember there is no I in TEAM or take your show on the road. We're not going to have a few of you ruining the good attitudes the rest of the TEAM has shown.

And unfortunately that was not the only low point during the season!

An Remarkable Athlete's Story and a Sad Ending

Nora Attaway on the right.

In 1982 I had a sophomore on the team who was willing to compete anywhere that a spot would open for her to fill. During that season she competed as a long jumper, a thrower in the shot put and discus, and in the 100 and 200 if there were spots available. She always did her best and never complained about where she got to compete; she just wanted to be a competitor. She competed in 7 meets total including the District Championship meet because we were allowed unlimited entries in District.

She competed in a total of 18 events and never scored a point or even made the finals but she never stopped trying. She started out with marks of 11'4 3/4" in the long jump; 18'3 in the shot put; and 14.71 in the 100 meters. She never threw far enough to get measured in the discus and she didn't run the 200 until the District meet. But she kept working, kept trying and would compete every time she was given an opportunity. She had her season bests in the four events she competed in at District. She threw 21'5" in the shot put; long jumped 13'7 1/2"; ran the 100 in 13.93 and the 200 in 30.02.

So what made her an "remarkable athlete"? In my opinion it was the fact that after a year like the one she had on a team that was loaded with outstanding athletes she was still willing to come back again the next year. And what about that next year?

Her Junior year I convinced her to come out for cross country; she didn't play volleyball or basketball and the conditioning could only help her if she was going to do track again. She was the same in cross country as she was in track, hard work, no complaints and always ready to compete. She was a back of the pack runner but she stuck with it.

I knew from Nora's sprint times from her sophomore year and in practice that she was never going to be a sprinter but with the strength that she gained in cross country and what speed she did have I was hopeful that with proper technique she could become a hurdler. She had the long legs and the willingness to try that made three stepping possible.

Her junior year she started out running the 100 hurdles in Texas and in her first meet placed 6th in 18.58; scoring the first points she had ever scored in track. She placed 3rd in the third meet and her time dropped to 16.8. When we started competing in New Mexico she added the 75 meter hurdles. The first time she ran them she finished 2nd and ran 12.69. By the end of the season Nora had lowered her times to 16.11 and 12.02; she set meet records in the 75 hurdles at Artesia and Lovington and qualified for the state meet. (Those 75 meter hurdle records still stand because the event was no longer run after 1983).

Her senior year she again ran cross country and came into the track season with high expectations and picked up right where she had left off. She was top 3 and under 17 seconds in all of our Texas meets and came back to New Mexico setting a new meet record 05 15.95 in Portales. She was 2nd and ran her best ever at Roswell when she ran 15.6. Placed 2nd at Artesia, won and set a new meet record at Lovington of 15.83 and was District runner up with a 15.86. She ran the state qualifying standard in each of the qualifying meets and competed in the state meet again.

She was a great kid, a classy young lady, an outstanding student and made herself an outstanding athlete by being willing to work hard and do what she needed to do to be the best. Here is a picture of us with another LHS student in Washington D.C. where we went for a Close Up government week long workshop.

And the sad ending? She went away to college in Missouri and sadly was murdered and never fulfilled her goals and dreams. She was a Remarkable Person!