El Paisano

Issue date: 5/15/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Greg Naylor Ruben Martinez was one of 14 runners from Rio's track team to be sent to the Southern California Preliminaries and the only Rio Hondo runner to qualify for State Finals.

Rio Hondo's Ruben Martinez qualified for the Track and Field California State Championships in the 5,000m and 10,000m runs.

Martinez qualified for State in the 5,000m with a sixth place finish in the So Cal Finals held at Mt. San Antonio College, stopping the clock with a personal best time 15:12 and eliminating any doubt about his potential.

The championships will be held at San Mateo and will take place this weekend, while Martinez will be running the 10,000m on Friday and then the 5,000m on Saturday.

"Ruben was a wild runner," distance coach Mario Cobian said. "But when the time came he stepped up and ran with the best of them."

Martinez also shined at So Cal in the 10,000m run and placed fifth with a time of 31:43, which secured his spot in the State Finals though it was not his personal best. Martinez is the first Rio Hondo Track and Field athlete to reach the state competition since triple jumper Justin Clarke, who qualified in 2006.

On the women's side, Ashley Huizar and Melissa Cortes just came up short in qualifying for state. Both the freshman women competed in the 5,000m run at So Cal, but neither placed high enough to reserve a lane in the State Finals.

Huizar finished her race with a personal best time of 19:12 and Cortes finished at 19:56 concluding their seasons.

The state championships will allow Martinez to showcase his talent at one of the highest levels in collegiate athletics and it will come down to two showdowns.

"The whole entire season we reserved our runners and kept them hungry until when it matters, which is State," said Coach Cobian. "We give all the credit to coach [Geoff] Skarr because he [Ruben] was nowhere near where he is at today."

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