SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
Eklund and fellow juniors Abbie Leugers, Janai Clayton, Lauren Cordova and sophomore London Luttrell team up
By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today
St. Michael’s junior Violet Eklund finished ninth in the Small School Varsity 5-kilometer at Friday night’s annual Desert Twilight Classic run in Casa Grande, Ariz.
With Eklund paving the way in 20:05, the Lady Horsemen placed fifth in the team scoring with their 5-runner lineup piecing together 205 points.
Junior Abbie Leugers took 27th in 20:30, junior Janai Clayton 29th in 20:31, sophomore London Luttrell ran 42nd in 20:45, and junior Lauren Cordova clocked 23:17 for 132nd.
The winner was junior Cami Fischmann of team-champion Silver Creek, which had four of the first eight harriers and totaled 34 points. Fischmann was timed in 19:06.1. Second was senior Precious Robinson of Pinon, Ariz., in 19:13.1.
Eklund did the first mile in 6:29 and the second one in 6:36, staying with the frontrunners most of the way. Leugers time for mile one was 6:28, and 6:37 for mile two. Clayton turned in a 6:28 for the first mile and 6:39 for the second one.
Then came Luttrell, sister of Denver and Austin, former St. Michael’s brothers who excelled in cross country, running 6:29 through the first mile and 6:41 for the second. And Cordova had a better first mile by racing 6:56, and her time for the second mile was 7:38.
The Lady Horsemen’s time for the race was 1:45.11.
Kudos to St. Michael’s freshman Gabby Garcia running for the first time. She’s working hard to improve because the team can certainly use a sixth runner. She ran the junior varsity race at the Academy of Technology and The Classics.
In Arizona, head coach Lenny Gurule entered her in the Small School Freshmen race and she ran 45:05. She has finished each race and to Gurule, it’s better to have someone striving to run distances than no one at all, and she’s supported by the varsity members.
Plus, she earned a trip to Arizona
