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Home / Sports News / Race for boy’s team honors had Pojoaque edge Pecos, 61-62, at Saturday morning’s fifth annual John Grimley Memorial Cross Country Invitational at Cochiti Pueblo.

Race for boy’s team honors had Pojoaque edge Pecos, 61-62, at Saturday morning’s fifth annual John Grimley Memorial Cross Country Invitational at Cochiti Pueblo.

Elks run first and second with Avery Torres and John Hall to remain favored for the state 4A championship, with two-time defending 3A champion Pecos the same

Commentary by Arnie Leshin

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

If there was any doubt that Pojoaque Valley and Pecos would be favored to win boy’s cross country championships — The Elks in 4A and Panthers in 3A — the varsity race at Saturday’s fifth annual John Grimley Memorial Invitational was a strong indication.

One point, only one point separated the two. Pojoaque scored 61, Pecos 62, and it was quite a race for team honors between the two at Cochiti Pueblo.

Long-time Elks’ head coach Alan Lockridge saw his senior Avery Torrez beat junior teammate John Hall to the finish, Torrez running 17:53 and Hall 18:11. Right behind was Panthers’ senior Josh DeHerrera in 18:17, and senior Thomas Lucero of host Santa Fe Indian ran his best race of the season with a fourth-place 18:21.

But Pecos’ head coach Patrick Ortiz shouldn’t worry. He won’t see Pojoaque against his team at state, and he still is the choice to win for the third-straight time.

No one else was anywhere near the top two schools. Third was Laguna-Acoma with 121 and Indian School followed with 125. Fifth place went to Santa Fe High with 308 in the 24-school field. Capital High placed 13th with 374 points, and Desert Academy did not have a full team.

There were 142 runners in the boy’s field. The first to finish for the Jaguars was senior Joseph Namingha taking 18th in 19:08. with senior Coby Quintana 22nd in 19:18 as the first Demon to place.

But it was all Pojoaque and Pecos in the expected race for the team title.

The Elks picked up a 9th from freshman Santiago Romero in 18:38, senior Martin Santistevan, whose brother was state champion, took 20th in 19:11, Gabriel Huerta ran 29th in 19:43, and most important, Pojoaque’s sixth man, Jesiah Mtz was clocked in 19:52 for 35th place.

The sixth man is key when it’s such a close race between schools. For Pecos, it was senior Carlos Cordova running 19:49 for 33rd, but the one-two finish for the Elks offset his two places ahead of Mtz.

In 8th was 8th-grader Isaiah Armijo of the Panthers in 18:35. Two spots behind him was senior teammate Michael Montano in 18:39, junior Angel Varela-Gomez 16th in 18:51, and sophomore fifth man Devin Gonzales 25th in 19:30.

In the boy’s junior varsity, Pojoaque also took first and second, but the team score had the Elks settling for the runner-up spot with 47 points, and Indian School taking team honors with 35.

But the individual winner was Pojoaque sophomore Joseph Gutierrez in 19:56, and his teammate, sophomore Donovan Lujan, was right behind in 20:10.

The Braves took five of the first 11 places, with junior Antonio Madalena and freshman Debrylan Candelario in a photo finish for fourth in the identical time of 20:29, one second behind third place Christian Aizpuro of Espanola Valley.

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