Two weeks before the season, Gilly Valdez was suffering from a broken ankle. During his home meet at the Peñasco Invitational in early September he was on crutches, but come November, the Peñasco High School sophomore found his way back on the podium.
In a season full of hurdles, grit and perseverance, Valdez ended his 2019 campaign with a top 10 finish at the 2019 Laguna Burger State Cross Country Championships in the boys Class 1A/2A division, placing eighth out of 154 runners on Nov. 9 at Rio Rancho High School.
It was his third top 10 finish at state since the eighth grade, placing eighth in 2017 and 10th in 2018.
Valdez nearly posted his best finish in seventh, but he fell just short of running down Navajo Pine High School’s Dominique Clichee. Valdez’s posted time was 17 minutes, 40.35 seconds and Clichee finished at 17:39.75.
“That finish was crazy,” Valdez said. “We were in a pack and I knew I had to make a move. Me and the guy (Clichee) from Navajo Pine split away and then it came down to the sprint. I just wanted it that bad and I just went for it.”
One week prior in the District 5-1A/2A championship in Mora, Valdez laid everything on the line to make sure his team made it to state. He led the race through two miles but fell off in the final mile after reinjuring his ankle yet again by rolling it in a ditch.
Valdez toughed it out to finish the race to help the Panthers win the District title and run one week later in Rio Rancho.
“All I wanted to do was run here today and get on the podium,” Valdez said. “It was rough, but I kept on going for the team. It started to get tight here today, but I knew I was at state, so at this point, you just have to keep going.”
Navajo Pine captured its third consecutive 1A/2A state championship, and Galvin Curley won back-to-back individual titles, winning the race this year in 16:13.50.
Peñasco finished 12th as a team led by Valdez, Dulce High School was 13th and McCurdy Charter School was 19th out of the 21 total teams.
Dulce’s Rossendo Julian finished in 23rd, one place ahead of Mesa Vista High School’s Damian Trujillo. Fellow Trojan senior Danny Gollas finished four spots back in 28th.
Class 4A
Locally in the Class 4A division, Pojoaque Valley High School placed 11th out of 15 teams, but Santiago Romero had quite the day.
The junior placed 33rd out of 120 runners in 17:46.30, which was a vast improvement from his 18:19.40 three weeks prior on the same course in the Rio Rancho Jamboree.
Española Valley High School’s Jose Castro competed for the first time at state and the sophomore ran the course in 18:14.15 for 55th place.
Castro was thankful for the opportunity, crediting head coach Landen Elliott-Knaggs for his continuous improvement over the season.
“This feels pretty good actually to race here,” Castro said. “Landen pushed me a lot this year. Last year, I was running 20s and this year it was nothing but hard effort and I never stopped. My coach there (was to credit for that).”
Los Alamos High School repeated as state champions, narrowly edging out longtime rival Albuquerque Academy, 40-43.
The Hilltoppers overcame first and second place overall finishes from Academy runners Julian Garcia and Justin Hickey by placing four runners inside the top 10. Rafael Sanchez led Los Alamos with a third-place finish, followed by Wakei Hettinga (fifth), Steven Strevell (seventh), Keith Bridge (ninth) and Ryan Aldaz (16th).
Meet Notes
Zuni High School ran away with the Class 3A race, outscoring second place Santa Fe Indian School 23-92. All five of the Thunderbird runners finished inside the top seven, headlined by Deshawn Goodwin’s first place finish in 16:02.80.
Chris Humetewa finished third overall to lead the Braves.
In Class 5A, Cleveland High School won its fifth overall state championship and third consecutive by way of seventh and eighth place finishes by Lucas Futey and Lucas Loe. Volcano Vista High School was second, and the Storm outscored them 64-112.
Clovis High School placed ninth, but produced the individual state champion, as Jerrick Maldonado crossed the finish line with the winning time of 16:07.65.