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Tough tight field lining up in 4A in Saturday’s state cross country championships run at Rio Rancho High School, with Capital senior Joseph Namingha in 5A third-straight time
Santa Fe Prep finishes third in 3-3A to qualify for state, same with St. Michael’s in 2-4A, and Santa Fe Indian School top team in 5-4A
By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today
Last year’s 4A boy’s cross country championship wasn’t close as Santa Fe Indian school senior Michael Tenorio won by the length of the football field at Rio Rancho High School.
This time, it will be a loaded field, with about seven or more runners expected to vie for the title.
Evidence of this was seen at Friday afternoon’s 2-4A district championship hosted by St. Michael’s and raced over the MRC rugby field course.
Won by West Las Vegas senior Miguel Coca in 16:06 over senior teammate JJ Esquibel’s second place in 16:20, it was a dead heat for third, with St. Michael’s junior Justin Angel getting the nod in 16:30, the same time run by Pojoaque Valley junior John Hall.
Next came the Dons’ senior Isaiah Paiz in 16:32. Horsemen junior Eli Steward followed in 16:49 and Elks’ senior Avery Torrez finished seventh in 17:15, two seconds ahead of St. Michael’s junior Adrian Veruete-Maya. The next two places for the Horsemen went to junior Wesley Stenberg finishing 13th in 17:49 and sophomore Justin Sanchez taking 25th in 18:48.
That’s quite a field. Team-wise, it was Pojoaque paving the way with 41points,14 better than runner-up St. Michael’s. Third and qualifying for state as a team was WLV with 56 points. Robertson scored 91 for fourth, and Taos placed fifth with 101.
And there was more of the same in the 5-4A district run hosted by East Mountain at Sandia Park. Santa Fe Indian School claimed the team title with 28 points and was led by senior Thomas Lucero’s second place in 18:29. Ahead of him was junior Epherem Zerai of Albuquerque Sandia Prep in 18:06.
“It was no doubt a tough course,” said Braves’ head coach Joe Calabaza. “I learned this before we ran, and it was correct. But Thomas ran a good race, led for awhile and held on to hold off the kid from East Mountain,”
The kid from the host school was senior Eero Ward, and he trailed Lucero by three seconds.
It was also an impressive run by the Braves. They took five of the first nine places, with seniors Raheem Alonzo and Coby Quintana fourth and fifth, respectively, in 18:37 and 18:48. In eighth was junior Jaden Aquino in 18:53.67, and freshman Christopher Humetawa ninth in the time of 19:15.
Lucero ran at a 5:57 mile pace, seven seconds behind Zerai and one better than Ward,
In 2-6A hosted by Albuquerque Manzano and run at Ben Greiner Park in Albuquerque, Santa Fe High finished sixth, four points behind Manzano. Albuquerque Eldorado won the team title with 42 points, second was Albuquerque La Cueva with 51, seven better than Clovis, and fourth was Albuquerque Sandia with 60.
Only Eldorado, La Cueva and Clovis qualified for state.
The first finisher for the Demons was junior Elijah Gonzales 35th in 19:02, and two spots behind was junior Brook McKinney in 19:07, with sophomore Luca Pacheco running 39th in 19:22. Rounding out the SFHS first five was senior Brad Moffett 41st in 20:02, and junior Noah Sarkisson 42nd in the time of 20:11.
In 3-3A, it was the Santa Fe Prep harriers finishing third and qualifying for state with 88 points. Their top runner was junior Adrian Whitten running eighth and clocked in 19:09. Next came sophomore Griffin Rutherford coming in 17th in 20:18, and two spots behind in 19th was freshman Julian Gonzales in 20:29.
In 2-5A, Capital senior Joseph Namingha qualified for state for the third-straight year. He ran a personal-best 16:58 and was the only Jaguar boy to qualify.
Los Alamos won the team title.
NOTE: Boys State Championship times for Saturday at Rio Rancho HS.
(all p.m.)
12:05: 6A
12:35: A-2A
1:05: 3A
1:35: 4A
2:05: 5A
