Pecos boys back running well in cross country

You can’t keep a good cross country program down.

And so enter the Pecos boys coached by Patrick Ortiz. They hit the road for Saturday’s Rio Rancho Jamoree and won the 5,000 meters run with 98 points.

The initial Panthers’ to finish was senior Antonio Garcia taking eighth in 18:40.52, and right behind him was junior teammate Elijah Lujan in 18:43.51.

The winner was Maxwell junior Tristan Pierce who timed 18:11.93, and the runner-up was Santa Fe Prep senior Joshua Abeyta, currently red-hot on the courses, coming across in 18:18.68.

But team honors went to Pecos with 98 points, second was Oak Grove Classic with 139, and third went to Santa Fe Prep with 153.

Behind the two Panther front runners was senior Gabe Cordova placing 24th in 19:39.67. Then came junior Justin Hunter taking 36th in the time of 19:56.11, right behind in 39th was junior Aiden Holton running 20:03.91, in 41st was junior Israel Villegas in 20:07.37, and coming in 59th and clocked in 20:56.08 was senior Jarvis Gonzales.

That’s all seven Pecos harriers.

Thus, after some strong seasons from its boys and girls teams, have a young girls squad, but the boys appear to be off and running. The race of 156 in the field was real tight after the first two runners, with only nine seconds separating the No. 3 harrier and the No. 8 (Garcia), and No. 9 (Lujan) was just 12 seconds behind.

Behind Abeya for the Griffins was junior Gabe Cordova racing 24th in 19:39.67 and 57th was junior Ian Olson in 20:46.71. The Prep girls won their race behind a first place run by 8th-grader Sophie Bair, and freshmen Nya Griego and Helen Desmond placed fourth and 10th for the young Griffin girls.