Chris Humetewa caps his five-year distance running

Quite a finale for Chris Humetewa.

Originally with Santa Fe Indian School where he finished third twice and second once at the state 3A cross country championships. But now where he would have been a senior there and coached by Joe Calabaza in track and field, the coronavirus pandemic had the state tribal rules close down the athletic season for its schools.

Which left the Braves having to transfer and compete instead for their district schools. Thus, Humetewa reported to his district school, Rio Rancho Cleveland, knew that he missed Indian School, yet came away with a special senior year.

During the cross country season, he was instrumental in the Storm winning the boys state 5A championship over rival Rio Rancho High. He finished sixth at the state meet run over the Albuquerque Academy course to do his part and also received praise from Cleveland head coach Kenny Henry.

“Chris was definitely the one who provided important points by placing ahead of two Rio Rancho runners,” Henry said. “It was great to have him with us. He is just one of the boys, and a very popular one.”

Now flash ahead to Saturday’s state 5A track and field championships run at the University of New Mexico complex, where Humetewa qualified in the 1,600 and 3,200, and found himself lining up with two of the best distance runners in the state, Clovis senior Jerrrick Maldonado and Rio Rancho High junior Dawson Gunn.

So, how did he deal with this after upgrading from 3A to 5A? Pretty damn good as he closely trailed the two in both the 1,600 and 3,200, and down the stretch he made sure to claim the bronze medals in a strong field that had it tight from top to bottom, but for Humetewa, he held his own and did so with personal bests in each.

“I held the lead in the 1,600 with about 200 meters to go,” said the June 3rd graduate, “but then I was tiring, but still kept behind those two after they passed me. Same with the 3,200, where I again stayed with the front runners and kept ahead of those closely behind me.”

How true. In the 1,600 where his pre-meet seeding time was 4:40.44, and he clocked his finest time at 4:31.95. Same in the 3,200. His qualifying seeding time was 10:01.34, and he finished in 9:52.11.

How close was he to Maldonado and Gunn? Aboutascloseasthis. In the 1,600, Gunn crossed the line first in 4:30.62 and right behind him in 4:31.94 was Maldonado. And so Humetewa was about a second behind Gunn, and only one-tenth and less than a step behind Maldonado.

The 3,200 was won by Maldonado in 9:47.51, and right behind him in 9:48.41 was Gunn. And a stride or two behind them came Humetewa in his finest time of 9:52.11.58.

The 1,600 field of 15 had the first 14 run under five minutes. Everybody was right up there behind Humetewa. There was a 4:32.58, a 4:33.90. a 4:34.86. and a 4.34.89. The remainder of the strong field ranged from 4:38.91 to 4:51.27, and one runner who ran five minutes and change. But Humetewa maintained his pace until the finish.

In the 3,200, the first eight runners ran under 10 minutes, and closest behind Humetwa was a 9:53.05, a 9:53.76, and a 9:53.95. The rest of the field ranged from 9:55.68 to 9:55.99. Again, Humetewa maintained his pace until the finish.

In the 3,200, Rio Rancho High senior Cebatian Marquez had the third fastest seeding time, but came in sixth. In that distance, Humetewa finished ahead of one teammate. In the 1,600, he bested three of his teammates.

All of this was a remarkable accomplishment for him as he now intends to continue his schooling and running at NAIA Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., which is also on the University of Kansas campus.

“I appear set on that,” he said. “It’s free tuition for Native Americans and my dad has some connections there, so I’m looking forward to that. Continuing my education is important to me, and I will be able to run.”

Again, it was quite a finale for him after he first ran for Indian School as an 8th-grader. And at Cleveland, he wound up with state titles in cross country and now in track and field.