Navajo Pine goes 1-2-3 and and it was the Rittmeyer sisters who were instrumental in ATC’s first place at the Ron Valdez Memorial in Pecos

By Arnie Leshin 

Navajo Pine showed its heels to the rest of the boy’s field at Saturday morning’s annual Ron Valdez Memorial Cross Country Invitational hosted by Pecos.

 

Navajo Pine showed its might by finishing in the first three places, with its senior Calvin Curley winning in 16:07, followed by senior and team captain Michael Marshall in 16:51 and senior Domininique Clichee in 17 minutes flat.

 

Next came Pecos senior Devin Gonzales just behind the three and timed in 17:03, and fifth place went to Taos senior Eddie Duran in 17:31 in what was a sprint to the finish among Duran, Rehoboth’s Joseph Harker and St. Michael’s senior Justin Sanchez, with Harker and Sanchez only a split second behind Duran in 17:32, and placing 6thand 7th.

 

But Navajo Pine won handily with 67 points, far enough of runner-up Taos’ 115, 3rd place Cuba’s 136, 4th place Pecos’ 151, and 5th place Santa Fe Prep’s 156. Navajo Pine also added the 16th place by junior Micah Tsosie in 18:05, and the 45th place finisher was sophomore teammate Nicholas Begay who ran 19:29.

 

The first Santa Fe Prep runner was Josh Abeyta taking 12th in 17:54. ATC’s top finish came on senior Gonzalo Reyes 14th place in 17:57. In 17thwas Pecos senior Keith Flores timed in 18:07.

 

ATC came away with 243 points for 9th place, St. Michael’s had 265 for 10th, and Robertson was 6thwith 164.

 

Co-host Santa Fe High will be the site of the annual Capital City Invitational Saturday, and expected is co-host Capital and Taos. On Friday afternoon, ATC heads for the 3 o’clock run of the East Mountain Invitational in Sandia Park.

 

Also on Saturday morning, Santa Fe Indian School races in the Highlands University meet in Las Vegas, and on Oct. 19, St. Michael’s and Santa Fe Prep will head for the Rio Rancho Jamboree.

 

In the junior varsity run, Cuba had the winner in Carl Werito, and also won the team title with 41 points. Next came Santa Fe Prep with 93, ATC with 97, and Pecos with 110.

 

ATC sophomore Joey Gurule ran second, Prep’s sophomore Nick Farrell and freshman Ian Olson placed 3rd and 4th, Pecos freshman Justin Muller came in 6th, and St. Michael’s freshman Josh Sanchez took 12th.

 

 

Girls Cross Country 

The Rittmeyer sisters, Maggie and Lily, paved the way as Academy of Technology and The Classics ran off with first place in the girl’s varsity 5-killometers run at Saturday morning’s annual Ron Valdez Memorial cross country meet hosted by Pecos.

 

Maggie, a junior, ran second behind Taossophomore Alyx Mastor in 20:14, with Mastor clocked in 19:46. In sixth place came Lily, a freshman, who timed 21:13.

 

The Phoenix put together 59 points, and behind the Rittmeyers came sophomore Josette Gurule racing 14th in 22:05, freshman Noelani Van Loon  18th in 22:21, and juniors Kate Ferguson and Kamryn Hoehne took the next two spots in 22:22 and 22:23, respectively.

 

Pecos ran second with 73 points, but was without its top runner, junior Vanesse Dominguez, who was in Arizona attending a death in the family. Dominguez figured as a top-3 finisher.

 

So the Panthers picked up an 8th place from junior Kianna Quintana in 21:29, and right behind in 9thwas sophomore Savanah Ortiz in 21:40. Then came another two Pecos runners when sophomore Loryn Trujillo came in 11th in 21:41, and in 12thwas freshman Mistidawn Roybal running 21:52.

 

The fifth Panther was junior Lexi Gonzales taking 33rd in the time of 23:19, and two spots behind was freshman teammate Ashlyn Lujan racing 23:31.

 

As for head coach Tim Host’s ATC harriers, they and Pecos figure as the ones to beat in 2A when the state championships roll around on November 19. The two programs have gone toe to toe, heel to heel, over the last three years.

 

Way behind the two was third place Penasco with 165 points, fourth was Robertson with 176, and in fifth was Santa Fe Prep scoring 192.

 

Both ATC and Pecos ran seven runners. While the Panthers’ first four harriers went 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th, and Dominguez would no doubt have led the way, the Phoenix seven had the advantage of finishing 14th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 24 behind the Rittmeyers.

 

Host’s girls also finished ahead of the field in the junior varsity run with 70 points and a second place from freshman Chanelle Jaeger. The first five Phoenix placed 2nd to 15th.

 

The first Santa Fe Prep finisher was sophomore Sophie Addison taking 17th in 22:20. St. Michael’s, which did not field a full team, picked up a 27thplace from senior London Luttrell in 22:49.

 

ATC next races Saturday morning at the East Mountain Invitational in Sandia Park. Taos, Capital and Santa Fe High will run the same morning at the Capital City Invite hosted by Santa Fe High. Santa Fe Indian School will be at the Northern Highlands University meet in Las Vegas.

 

Los Alamos will run Friday, 3 p.m., at the Albuquerque Academy Invite.

St. Michael’s and Santa Fe Prep will line up at the Oct. 19 Rio Rancho Jamboree.