SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Joe Calabaza doesn’t brag much, but his years ofcoaching cross country provide him with a chance to brag when he runs across a promising prospect.
That was last year when Christopher Humetewa was a freshman and had transferred from Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque to Santa Fe Indian School.
It didn’t take long for head coach Calabaza to notice that Humetewa could run distances. So he made the newcomer his number 5 runner and he went on to finish 34th at the state cross country championships in Rio Rancho. It was his first time on that 5-killomiter course.
But on Saturday morning he returned there to lead a young Braves team hoping to finish up around the leaders in 3A.
And Calabaza was happy about what transpired when Humetewa finished an impressive third place, ran a personal-best time of 16:42.45 and his teammates ran well enough to bring second placewith 40 points, nine less than victorious Zuni.
Not only that, but taking second brought a trophy and a spot on the podium.
The other Braves were sophomore Isaiah Velasquez, who ran sixth in 17:21.95, sophomore Marcus Concho, seventh in 17:24.45, sophomore Lauren M-Chavez 16th in 17:24.35, and senior Jaden Aguino two spots behind M-Chavez in 17:56.10.
And for Calabaza, it was his best team finish in his sixth year with Indian School. In 2016, his senior Michael Tenorio was state champion.
“I get back these sophomores and I have four quality juniors,” Calabaza said. “We were even hoping Chris would place first or second, but he was up there with the leaders the entire race. Velasquez did better than we thought, and Concho was among the leaders in the early part of the race.”
Overall, Humetewa finished 23rd.
The Academy of Technology and The Classics boys also got to hoist a trophy and step onto the podium when they finished third in 1/2A. Ahead if them was Navajo Pine and Pecos. The Phoenix ran up 102 points, Navajo Pine had 33 and Pecos 45.
ATC’s first finisher was Ian Apodoca and he placed 12th in 18:01.50. Next came Gonzalo Reyes,who clocked 18:11.35 for 16th. In 22nd in 18:25.22 was Cole Ferguson, and Dylan Canney was a spot behind Ferguson in 18:32.35, and the No. 5 runner, Lukas Glauuson, came in 29th in 18:39.35.
Santa Fe Prep senior Adrian Whitten ran 8th in 17:29 in 3A, and also in 3A, St. Michael’s senior Adrian Verutte-Maya came in 21st in 17:49.80, and junior teammate Justin Sanchez was 28th in 18:03.75.
It was also the final state meet for Desert Academy senior Jakob Kaare-Rasmussen and he came in 19thin the time of 18:23.35 in 1/2A.
