Breaking the log jam at the top of the Class 4A state cross country podium that has been owned by Los Alamos and Albuquerque Academy is likely too much to ask, but the Española Valley girls may have the squad that can challenge that status quo, or at least grab a podium spot.
The Sundevils are coming off a solid fifth-place finish a year ago and all but one of those athletes is returning, coach Loren Martinez said.
“They are powerhouse programs and it hurts us a lot because Los Alamos is in our district,” he said, adding that either the Hilltoppers or Chargers have won the state championship the past 17 years and 25 of the past 26. “But at the same time, it’s good because it’s a good benchmark to show us what we have to do try and do to catch them.”
Española has the benefit of a strong senior front runner in Neveah Cachora, who finished 10th at state last season in a time of 19 minutes, 17.4 seconds.
“It was the second time in her career that she was All-State,” Martinez said. “She’s a really good veteran leader who will continue to lead this group of young girls coming up.”
Not far off the pace, freshman Christiana Branch was 16th last season at 20:00.6 and big things are also expected from her.
“She’s showing very good promise,” the coach said. “We’re expecting a lot of improvement from her.”
And fellow freshman Candi Romero, who was 75th in 23:48.3, could also make a big leap.
Sophomores Alexa Nuñez and Kennia Grajeda, as well as freshman Kayla Quintana were also in the top 100.
“It was a pretty solid season last year on the girls side,” Martinez said. “We have a solid core group of 12 who are a group of friends. They’re multi-sports athletes who also do volleyball or cheer so they’re back and forth. They’re eager to get better. That camaraderie is good. They decided to do it together so hopefully they’ll stick to it through the years.”
For the boys, junior Elijah Martinez is the only returning Sundevil who ran at state, finishing 26th in 17:09.1.
“Hopefully we can get him to All-State in the top 10, but I think he’ll be in the top 20, bare minimum,” Martinez said. “He’s a very rare Northern New Mexico athlete that running is his primary sport. He did play basketball, but it’s hard to find an athlete who thinks of running as his primary sport. Usually they’re just out for conditioning.”
Elijah Martinez is the type of leader who can inspire his teammates to want to improve.
“He’s dedicated to it and wants to get better,” Loren Martinez said. “He’s improved every single year since he started with us as an eighth grader. Just his commitment to want to get better at it, that’s what sets him apart.”
The rest of the team is fairly inexperienced as six seniors graduated, but junior Mylan Archuleta, who also plays football, and freshman Sean Rivera have shown strong promise.
The Sundevils benefited from consistent summer workouts, Loren Martinez said, which started in June.
“We got together twice a week to run five, six, seven miles just to build team chemistry and get them used to running that distance,” he said. “Not all of them did track so we had to get them used to running that distance and it was good for team bonding.”
But the athletes would frequently do their own workouts, as well.
“They’re running on their own every day,” Loren Martinez said. “I didn’t have to monitor every single workout they do. They’re a good group of kids.”