State qualifying performances at Socorro’s Zimmerly Relays

Despite the chilly and blustery start to the morning on Friday, March 27, student-athletes still put on strong performances during the Zimmerly Relays at Socorro High School. Named in honor of coaching legend and Hall of Honor inductee Charles “Chuck” Zimmerly, this track and field meet had 13 teams registered to compete for the day.

“Couldn't have asked for a much better day. You know, we thought this morning, when we started, it was going to be a miserable day because of the wind and the cold. It just never got that bad; it ended up being great,” coaching legend Chuck Zimmerly said.

It was still breezy throughout the day, but Socorro’s teams saw three more state qualifiers added to their list. Breanne Lucero was second place for the day in the girls’ pole vault event. She qualified for state at 7-6.00 (feet-inches) and then went on to set a personal record (PR) at 8-0.00. 

“Breanne is now in a 3-way tie with Sienna [Bunning] and one former athlete for second place pole vault in the all-time SHS record book,” Socorro Head Coach Beth Cadol said.

Lucero will join SHS pole vaulters Sienna Bunning and AD Munguia at state this year. Munguia honed his skills at the Socorro meet and set a new PR for himself at 11-6.00, upping his old mark by a foot.

“Oh, it's just so great to see this many kids out. And just a great job by Beth. Beth does a superb job getting everything ready. I like to see all these kids putting out the effort,” Zimmerly said.

Julian Aldrich added a second state qualification to his own list, earning a first-place finish in shot put with a throw of 44-4.50. Aldrich had already qualified in discus earlier this season. Kyle Berger also doubled-up his state qualifying events with a second-place finish in the 1600 meter run (4:43.65). Berger has also qualified this season in the 3200 m run.

“Kind of neat, the fire chief comes out, and he's a starter for the meet, you know, community involvement. Of course, he ran when he was in high school. Fred Berger ran on the track team here and now there's his son having a great meet. Just all those things, fun to see,” Zimmerly said.

For Magdalena, Ky Stephens earned a trip to state with a time of 17.42 in the 110 meter hurdles. His brother Kanaan Stephens previously qualified in javelin, so Magdalena currently has two state-bound athletes. 

Magdalena will host track meets the next two weeks, giving their team members some home opportunities to advance to state: 3/31 Magdalena Quad, JH; 4/01 Magdalena Quad, varsity; 4/07 Magdalena Invite, JH; 4/09 Stockyard Relays at home, varsity.

SHS has no more home meets but will host a fundraising event on Saturday, April 18, at 10 a.m. at the Socorro High School Track. This Socorro Community Track Meet will allow community members to compete in track and field events that the SHS teams organize.

“Thank you to all our volunteers who made the meet possible. It takes an extraordinary amount of work to run a track meet and we couldn’t do it without our supporters,” Cadol said.

Socorro will be further honoring Zimmerly with a Hall of Fame Reception to be held on Sunday, May 3, at the Socorro Convention Center from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Zimmerly was inducted into the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Track/Cross Country Hall of Honor in January of this year.

See results from the meet here:

https://nm.milesplit.com/meets/730265-zimmerly-relays-2026/results