SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Junior Alyx Mastor, who finished fourth at state cross country last year in 4A, wore the colors of Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical Prep this time and outran St. Michael’s previously undefeated 8th-grader Raylee Hunt in the 3A championships run Friday at Albuquerque Academy.
“It was Raylee and Alyx together at the first mile,” said Lenny Gurule in his 18th year as head coach of St. Michaels, “and then the cottonwood girl just picked up the pace. Raylee. though, still ran well in leaving the other three Cottonwood girls behind.”
It was the Coyotes again handily winning the team title with 13 points, one better than their boys, who also took the top spot.
Mastor, who lost previously this shortened season to Hunt, cruised to the finish in a snappy time of 18:37.20, with Hunt timed in 19:26.39. Interesting to note that Mastor’s time was faster than the 19:16.44 posted by 4A winner Norissa Valdez of defending champion Los Alamos, and the runner-up Emma Patton of host Albuquerque Academy placed in 19:25.29, which was only one second faster then Hunt’s clocking.
Mastor and Hunt actually had the two best girls times of the day, and this included all three classes. Saturday, it will be the 5A girls and boys racing.
The Lady Horsemen, with two other 8th-graders and two seniors, finished fourth in the team score with 69 points, eight behind third place Albuquerque Bosque. Senior Paris Dixson came in 18th in 23:36.36, 8th-grader Lauren Patten took 27th in 25:16.15, 8th-grader Lauren Barela placed 31st in 26:04.61, and senior Mia Romero was 38h in 29:02.46.
In the 3A boys, the winner was Cottonwood senior Justin Howey in a stellar time of 15:59.28, and St. Michael’s
ran fifth with 73 points, one less than fourth place Newcomb.
The leading Horsemen runner was senior Dennis Ortiz coming in 15th in 18:38.58, and in 24th was junior Ryan Kuhn in 19:12.57. Up-and-coming 8th-grader Jaden Perea took 27th in 19:57.33, junior Derek Martinez one place behind in 20:02.76, while sophomore Irvin Toya finished 34th in 20:57.21.
“I thought both the boys and girls did well,” said Gurule. “Ortiz is our only senior among the boys, Perea is only in 8th grade, and the girls ran with three 8th-graders, and that’s a good sign for them to run so well.”
In the 4A girls, Los Alamos ran up 23 points to reign supreme again, with the Chargers second with 35 points. The two girls that qualified for Espanola Valley in 4A, junior Alexis Aquino and 8th-grader Hailey Renteria, finished 42nd and 60th, respectively, Aquino in 29:19.4 and Renteria in 26:29.75.
In the A-2A boys, the winner was Gilly Valdez of Penasco in 17:04.78, with Pecos placing sixth with 79 points, one less then the fifth place team, and four less then the fourth place team, with Cloudcroft taking team honors with 23 points.
The Panthers’ top harrier has been junior Antonio Garcia and he responded by racing fifth in 18:01.59. In 21st was senior Derek DeHerrera in 19:42.28, next came sophomore Israel Villegas in 19:49.11, and 54th and 55th were 8th-grader Abel Strock and senior Derrick Romero, with respective times of 23:12.41 and 23:55.36.
It was a good run for the Pecos girls, just not good enough. With senior Vanessa Dominguez winning her second state championship in 20:00.01, the team that lost several key members of last year’s second place team that trialed Academy of Technology and The Classics, again finished second, but it was close, with the Phoenix piecing together 24 points and the Panthers 30. Last season, it was 14-point deficit.
Dominguez, who has had a stellar five years at state, dethroned last year’s winner, ATC senior Maggie Rittmeyer, who ran third in 20:29.44 behind sophomore teammate Josette Gurule, who timed 20:11.47. Last year, Dominguez came in second and also won state at Rio Rancho High in 2018, but was 24 seconds faster this time
and probably more satisfying.
Fourth was Panthers’ freshman Misridawn Roybal in 20:55.21, then came senior teammate Kianna Quintana in 8th place 21:24.34, sophomore Kiristina Ragland 20th in 23:03.42, and right behind her was senior teammate Alexis Gonzales clocking 23:09.29. For ATC, sophomore Lily Rittmeyer finished 9th in 21:59.82, a step behind was senior Kate Ferguson in 22:02.34, and in 23rd was junior Mariah Trujillo in 23:18.65.
Notesable were a lot of 8th-graders, and some of them fit right in with the upperclassmen.
