Pojoaque’s James Viarreal realized a dream by finishing first Oct. 30 at the District 2AAAA cross country meet in Pojoaque, but he couldn’t fully enjoy his victory.
The Elks had been beaten out for the district team title by archrival Santa Fe Indian School, which placed five runners among the top seven finishers. The Braves scored 23 points to the Elks’ 37 to slip by a Pojoaque team that had been them the two previous weeks.
“I’d trade my first place for a team first place,” Viarreal said. “I knew I was strong coming in and it was my goal, my dream.”
The Braves were paced by Santa Clara Pueblo’s Trevor Merhege, who came in second just five seconds behind Viarreal’s winning time of 17:13 on the 3.09-mile course.
“We had to sit down and get in touch with each other,” Merhege said. “Our goal is to run how we know we can, and if we do, it’ll come to us.”
The Braves’ Santiago Pasquale followed behind Merhege. while Pojoaque’s Daniel Santistevan followed in fourth. Indian School packed their runners into the fifth, sixth and seventh spots to sew up the team title. Dominic Martinez came in eighth for Pojoaque, while Sam Roybal was 11th and Brandon Jaramillo 13th for Pojoioque.
“A good team that ran well beat us,” Pojoaque coach Alan Lockridge said. “We’ll have to run better for this team to get a trophy next at state, and they know it.”
Viarreal was glad that the Braves’ victory came before the Class AAA state cross country meet scheduled for Saturday at Rio Rancho. Both teams qualified, along with St. Michaels, for state. The Elks and Braves are considered contenders for the state championship.
“Every one of us has had this dream of winning state and we’ve been working hard for it,” Viarreal said. “We’re not going to let it slip out of our grasp because of this loss.”
Merhege knew the Pojoaque/Indian School rivalry still has another chapter to go.
“It’s not over; I know that for sure,” Merhege said. “It’s been going either way all year long, and it’s going to go to who wants it more.”
The Pojoaque girls cross country team qualified for state by finishing third behind district champion St. Michaels and second-place Santa Fe Indian School. St. Michaels’ Kate Norskog won the girls race with a time of 20:17 and is the defending Class AAA state champion. St. Michaels scored 33 points to edge Indian School, which scored 36 points. Pojoaque had 79 points in third.
Pojoaque’s Sophia Torres, the 2007 Class AAA state champion, struggled with a sore ankle and finished in ninth-place overall.
“I rolled it at the start and after the first mile it started to hurt pretty bad.” she said. “I’ll be alright, just ice it when I get home.”
The state cross country meet is scheduled for Saturday in Rio Rancho. The boys meet will start at 11:35 a.m. and the girls meet at 9:25 a.m.