McCurdy’s District Rivals Battle at the Top of 1A/2A
In the last three years, the Pecos High School boys cross country team has been all the talk, but now the girls finally have a little blue hardware of their own to show off — and the McCurdy Lady Bobcats were certainly paying close attention.
In a day where the Pecos boys finished runner-up and were unable to win their fourth consecutive title, the Lady Panthers captured their first state championship Nov. 10 at Rio Rancho High School in the Laguna Burger State Cross Country Championships, edging out District 2-1A/2A opponent Academy for Technology and the Classics, 36-39.
Vanessa Dominguez led the way for Pecos as the individual state champion, finishing with a time of 20 minutes, 24 seconds.
“I had faith in myself, “Dominguez – the soft-spoken sophomore said. “If I did good, then I knew my team was going to do good.”
Indeed, they would, as Pecos accounted for three more runners inside the top-10 with Mistidawn Roybal (fourth), Kianna Quintana (fifth) and Savanah Ortiz (seventh). A 20th place finish by senior Faith Flores finalized the victory, as ATC’s fifth runner in Kamryn Hoehne had already crossed in the 14th position.
“Those girls all ran to their potential today, wow,” Pecos head coach Patrick Ortiz said about the group who boasts three sophomores, two freshman and one eighth-grader that will all return in the coming years.
Ortiz has coached the boys and girls at Pecos since 2014 and having already enjoyed three consecutive titles with the boys from 2015 to 2017, he finally bridged the gap with the girls team — who placed third in 2016 and runner-up in 2017.
“We got the first one with the boys in 1999 and then the three in-a-row, obviously,” Ortiz said. “This is the first one for the girls and I just told them that they need to keep believing and do what they’ve done all year and we should be fine and today they made it happen.”
No one else present at the championships may have known more about Pecos and ATC other than McCurdy, who saw plenty of both schools while competing in the same district — but most of what they saw came in the fashion of the back of their cross country uniforms.
“They are absolute amazing programs,” McCurdy head coach Cecilia Brown said. “It’s an honor to be able to be in such an elite district and I’m very proud of both of them. They have great kids and great coaches. It gives us something to look forward to and aim to with our goals, because we want to be one of those top teams.”
While McCurdy placed ninth out of 13 schools, it was the program’s first appearance at state since the reformation of the program in 2016.
They are a young unit that includes four eighth-graders in Audreana Maestas, Jasmine Mondragon, Emma Lovato and Missy Yordy. Junior Jayme Bustos rounded out the five that competed at state and was able to crack the top-20 with a 17th-place finish in 22:14.05
“I’m very happy about today,” Bustos said. “Running this course before and knowing where the hills are and stuff really helped.”
Bustos was referring to the Rio Rancho Jamboree Oct. 20, held on the same course at Rio Rancho High School. Even though the event was just three weeks prior, every single Lady Bobcat improved substantially on their time from that day at state.
“There was so much growth with all of them,” Brown said. “They all improved their times by so much and worked hard all season. They were very dedicated, and it showed at the end.”
Dulce had two runners compete in Kailey Julian, who finished 30th and Tunte Vigil grabbed the 40th spot in the field of 99 runners.
Mesa Vista senior Abrianna Griego made her final appearance at the championship course and was nearly unable to finish as she pulled up with about 30 yards remaining. She was, however, able to push through and finish in 53rd.
“I felt sick the whole race,” Griego said. “It’s been disappointing as my times have just gotten slower and slower. It sucks, but I am looking forward to track.”
After basketball season, Griego will return to the track as the defending 1A/2A state champion in the 400 and 200-meter dash.
Champions by class: 1A/2A Pecos, 36; 3A Robertson, 87; 4A Albuquerque Academy 31; 5A Eldorado, 57
Pojoaque Senior Takes 8th In Final Career Race
If there was one thing Pojoaque Valley senior John Hall knew coming into the final cross country meet of the season, it’s that he just wasn’t going to catch up to Kashon Harrison.
The Kirtland Central runner has destroyed his competition all season and did so again Nov. 10 in the 2018 Laguna Burger State Cross Country Championships at Rio Rancho High School.
Harrison placed first in Class 4A with a winning time of 15 minutes, 27.5 seconds. He was also the fastest runner regardless of class, as Cleveland’s Yonas Haile was the next-closest in about 22 seconds behind.
On Oct. 20 in the Rio Rancho Jamboree — also held at Rio Rancho High School — Hall gave it all he could early to stay toe-to-toe with Harrison, which taught him to run his own race this time around.
“That dude’s a freak,” Hall said about Harrison in complimenting fashion. “He’s way too fast. I knew I couldn’t take off fast and run the first mile in 4:50 again (like at the Jamboree). I died the last time I tried that.”
Instead, for the final race of his career, Hall commuted with a pace of 5:23 and landed inside the top-10 with an eighth-place finish in 16:41.80 — nearly five seconds faster than his effort at the Jamboree.
Hall kicked in the afterburners in the last 20 to 30 yards to try and beat out Albuquerque Academy’s Oliver Pinon, but the two finished with identical times.
“I just gave it everything I had,” Hall said. “With this being my last race, I just had to give it everything. Starting this race, I was nervous — I was nervous as heck, but you got to stay mentally strong and I just ran through it.”
The Pojoaque boys placed seventh out of 15 competing teams, while perennial powers Los Alamos and Albuquerque Academy placed first and second. The Hilltoppers scored 42 points and the Chargers were not far behind with 49.
Santiago Romero was the next Elk to cross the finish line in 27th, followed by Joseph Gutierrez (35th), Sebastian Rubio (53rd), Lucas Tiede (78th), Isaiah Roybal (82nd) and Matthew Gomez (83rd). The top five combined for a total score of 201.
Terrance Sanchez was the lone Española Valley Sundevil to make the trip, and he ran the course in 18:21.45 to place 58th out of the field of 119.
Class 1A/2A
Navajo Pine repeated as champions in Class 1A/2A to claim their seventh blue trophy in the program’s history. Their team score of 31 points was followed by Pecos (49), ATC (102), Cloudcroft (135), Mora (211) and then Mesa Vista, who finished in seventh place with a total of 215.
Damian Trujillo led the Trojans with an 18th-place finish in 18:50.85.
“I did well at keeping the pace today,” Trujillo said. “Right around the soccer fields I kicked up a little and that’s usually what I like to do.”
Mesa Visa also edged out district rival Jemez Valley, who got the best of the Trojans at the Jamboree when they scored 131 in comparison to Mesa Vista’s 136. This time, the Trojans outscored their district counterparts by 25 points.
The Dulce boys placed eighth and Coronado finished in the final spot in 21st. Still, first-year head coach Glenn Callaway was happy his team got the “championship experience” after the season began with Tim Fuchs being the lone Leopard runner.
“I’m really proud of them because they stuck with me and stuck with the conditioning after we got them all together,” Callaway said. “A lot of them could have quit a long time ago, but I told them to finish it out and give me what they had. Most of them are just new to cross country and they’re learning how to run and what their bodies can do.”
Callaway plans on a smoother transition in year two as the team becomes more familiar to the training regimen and schedule.
“For next year, we will have a better process and better plan,” he said. “This year was a trial and error. We introduced them to running, training and getting in the weight room. You got to test yourself and see what your limits are and then you gain strength within when you go out and accomplish something. That’s what I’m trying to teach these guys.”
McCurdy had two runners in the field in freshman Kodi Rodriguez who finished in 58th and in 103rd was Isaiah Abeyta.
Champions by class: 1A/2A Navajo Pine, 31; 3A Zuni, 40; 4A Los Alamos, 42; 5A Cleveland, 62