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Santa Fe Prep 8th grader Sophie Addison finishes first in Friday’s Desert Academy Invite and Griffin girls and boys place third in the team scoring
By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today
Make way for Abbie Leugers. With fellow juniors Janai Clayton or Violet Eklund usually leading the way for the St. Michael’s cross country team, it was Leugers who was the first one on the team to finish at Friday afternoon’s annual Los Alamos Invitational in the 3-mile run over the golf course.
Leugers placed 23rd in 21:34.73, and right behind her was Santa Fe High senior Daisy Gephart in 21:37.32.
The winner was no surprise as two-time state 6A champion Amanda Mayoral of Rio Rancho Cleveland as the senior traveled the course in 18:38.07 to leave Taos senior Cora Cannedy as the runner-up in 19:32.19.
Cleveland took team honors with 48 points, three better than Taos. Third was Albuquerque Academy with 60, and host Los Alamos scored 75 for the fourth spot.
Santa Fe High placed sixth with 167, St. Michael’s was right behind with 177, and in 11th was Santa Fe Indian School with 309. There were 12 schools in the field, with senior Audrey Gonzales the only Capital runner and she came in 52nd in 23:42.03.
Demonettes sophomore Maya Holder placed 26th in 21:40.40, sophomore teammate Brooke Guevara took 29th in 21:48.59, and right behind was Clayton who timed 21:49.10. Sophomore Iris Emery, Indian School’s top harrier, did not run this event, and Braves’ junior Katherine Sanchez had the team’s top finish by coming in 66th in 24:23.84.
In the junior varsity race, junior Leona Sholar ran first in 21:43.22, a second better than Academy sophomore Jessica Allen. Santa Fe High junior Crissie Hoskinsson came in 33rd in 24:18.12.
Cleveland was tops among the teams with 27 points, and Santa Fe High and Indian School took fourth and fifth, with 126 and 156 points, respectively.
In the boys race, it was Cleveland taking the top two spots, with senior David Apodaca winning in 16:21.86 and junior Yonas Haile right behind in 16:25.1. With St. Michael’s juniors Justin Angel and Eli Stewart not running, it was junior Adrian Veruete-Maya showing the way for the Horsemen with an 18th place 17:46.24.
Indian School senior Thomas Lucero also did compete this day, and left it to senior Raheem Alonso, who placed 23rd in 17:58.15. Capital High senior Joseph Namingha placed 32nd in 18:13.14.
Santa Fe High took 48th, 49th, 50th, behind junior Brock Mckinney, sophomore Luca Pacheco, and junior Elijah Gonzales, with times of 19:24.01, 19:25.01 and 19:25.52, respectively, as they ran as a pack.
The team title went to Albuquerque Academy with 43 points, two better than Cleveland, with host Los Alamos next with 55.
St. Michael’s came in sixth with 182, Indian School ninth with 246, the Demons 11th with 268, and the Jaguars 13th with 333 in the 14-school field.
In the JV race, Academy freshman Jesse Sanchez ran first in 18:09.93 and Cleveland won team honors with 24 points. Fifth was Indian School with 173 points and Santa Fe High took 10th with 263.
In the Desert Academy Invitational Friday afternoon, Santa Fe Prep finished third in the team scoring in both the varsity and junior varsity.
Griffins’ 8th-grader Sophie Addison was the winner in the girl’s varsity race in 22:10, with junior teammate Brooke Little 11th in 24:22, sophomore Savannah McCall 13th in 24:24, and sophomore Hallie Weishel 14th in the time of 24:25.
The Griffins took third place among the teams with 67 points.
In the junior varsity run, Prep also came in third with 64 points, and was led by a fifth place in 27:10 from senior Francesca Maestas.
In the boy’s race, it was also a third place for the Griffins as they scored 72 points. Sophomore Griffin Rutherford showed the way by finishing fourth in 18:42, and in fifth was junior teammate Adrian Whitten in the same time in what was a photo finish.
In the JV run, it was also third place for Prep with 99 points behind a fourth place from junior Sam Gilbert in 20:53.
