Mesa Vista High School’s Hailey Lucero showed some bigger schools and a defending state champion her heels Sept. 13, successfully defending her title at the Taos Invitational.
Racing to the front of the pack and firmly establishing her lead at the beginning of the race, Lucero steadily lengthened the distance between herself and second-place runner Sophia Torres, of Pojoaque High School. When Lucero crossed the finish line, she was in first place by nearly a minute. Torres, the defending Class AAA state champion, was barely visible.
The diminutive 4-foot, 10-inch Lucero said she likes to stay out in front of traffic.
“If you get too far back, it’s hard to catch up and you get tired trying to,” Lucero said. “It’s easier to take off and lead, then you can run at your own pace.”
Lucero won at Taos last season, as an eighth grader, with a time of 22:03. This year, she crossed the line in 20:54.
Torres may have been second in 21:40, but her high finish helped her team take the first-place trophy. The Elkettes edged out the Los Alamos junior varsity, scoring 48 points to the Hilltoppers’ 53.
Freshman Ariel Castañeda was the second runner to cross the finish line for Pojoaque, taking third with a time of 22:30. Anndria Quintana was eighth for Pojoaque, while Luvina Lucero finished 13th and Vanessa Roybal 22nd.
“It was a good day, good competition and a fun course,” Pojoaque coach Alan Lockridge said. “We like to come up (to Taos) because it’s spectator friendly.”
The Española Valley High School girls took third place with 97 points, edging ahead of District 2AAAA rival and tournament host Taos. Naomi Maestas cracked the top 10 for the Sundevils, coming in 10th with a time of 23:39.
Boys
The Los Alamos junior varsity won the boys’ team competition with 31 points, but a runner from a small school ran away with the individual title. Pecos’ Mario Armijo, the defending Class A-AA state champion, won with a time of 17:46.
Pojoaque’s Sam Roybal took fourth overall with a time of 18:35; he helped the Elks take second place in the team competition. James Viarreal, in his first race of the season for Pojoaque, came in seventh and Dominic Martinez was 10th.
Pecos was third with 69 points and Española took fourth.
The Sundevils were paced by Derrick Martinez, who finished 11th. Mesa Vista took finished seventh in the team standings and Benjamin Sandoval paced the Trojans, finishing 15th overall.