For most of the season, Pojoaque Valley was not a part of the girls cross country team standings.
The team only had four high-school runners, which was not enough to qualify for team standings in any of their races.
But for their most recent meet, they called on eighth-grader Mikayla Delgado to join the varsity team, giving them a fifth runner.
“Everybody ran really well,” said Pojoaque Coach Gloria Martinez. “I think it’s going to give them a boost going into districts.”
The Elkettes finished 11th as a team at the Oct. 21 Albuquerque Academy Extravaganza. They were among the many local teams to come down to Albuquerque for the weekend race.
“It’s a tough course,” said Pojoaque senior Marisa Martinez. “Being the last race (of the day) was pretty hard. It got sandy after everyone had run on it.”
The meet features teams from across the state, and is divided by classification at the same course as the state championship, offering a preview of the race in three weeks.
Elizabeth Towles led Pojoaque’s girls with a 24th-place finish in 4A at 21:51. The Pojoaque Valley boys finished ninth, led by Matteo Nagle’s 52nd place with a time of 19:03.
Pojoaque has been facing challenges the entire year. They have not been able to run on either side of their local trails due to land disputes. Instead, for practice they take a bus to Los Alamos, Santa Fe, or other areas around the school to try to run.
McCurdy’s girls cross-country team was missing multiple competitors from a team that has been among the best in the state. And top runner Aubrey Cordova appeared to aggravate a leg injury on the course, uncharacteristically finishing 35th in the 1-2A race despite being near the front of the pack early. Marisol Serna led the Bobcats, finishing in seventh with a personal record time of 21:57. But as a team, with just four runners this week, they did not place.
“They all looked really good,” said McCurdy Coach Crystal Espinoza. “They gave me everything they had today.”
Emilio Espinoza led four McCurdy boys, finishing in 92nd place.
The Bobcats have a chance to recover with a week off, before their district meet at Peñasco in early November. The district meet will be a challenge, with Peñasco having won the state title the past two years, and Legacy Academy shaping up as a top competitor this year.
“We’ve got some good competition, especially in our district,” Crystal Espinoza said. “2A’s always a tough division to run in. But our girls are looking good.”
In 1-2A, Charnelle Gonzales placed sixth to lead Peñasco’s girls to an eighth-place team finish. Peñasco’s boys finished in ninth place, with Jeremiah Martinez as their top finisher in 14th place.
Mesa Vista’s boys had a strong race. Freshman Ezequiel Nevarez finished 20th at 18:47, and close behind was fellow freshman Andres Valdez in 23rd. In total, they led the Trojans to a fourth-place finish. Mesa Vista still eyes a state championship, though they were well behind the top three teams, as Pecos took the top spot.
In 4A, freshman Elijah Martinez led Española’s boys team with a 19th-place finish and a time of 18:01. For the girls, Neveah Cachora placed 15th at 21:24, and Hailey Renteria was seven places and 22 seconds behind. The Sundevils were missing multiple runners, and did not have enough to place either of their teams. But they had eighth-graders called up to join the race, running their first full 5-kilometer race.
“I was going to see how they transitioned into it, coming from the middle school,” said Española Coach Daniel Velasquez. “But I was overall pleased with their effort. They really turned my head.”
The Sundevils will compete Friday at the Los Alamos Invite before heading into the district championship at Pojoaque next week. Velasquez said he thinks the Sundevils can place in the top two at districts.
Dulce’s girls team placed 12th in 1-2A, led by Alaina Vigil in 24th place at 23:57. Dulce’s top boys finisher was Michael Tecube in 37th place, while they did not have enough runners to place as a team.
Coronado’s boys team finished 20th at the meet in 1-2A, with a top finisher of Mossy Gutierrez in 69th place.