The Española Cross Country team is headed to state after an abbreviated but successful season.
The boys team qualified in full for the state championship by finishing in second place at the March 19 District meet. The girls team finished in third, but Alexis Aquino and Hailey Martinez qualified for states individually.
“Just this small team camaraderie that we’ve developed,” coach Daniel Velasquez said about the team. “And this bond we have for everyone that was willing to come out for cross country, I would say that it’s been very positive.”
The team only had two meets before an abbreviated spring season that started about six months later than usual due to state public health restrictions.
At the March 12 Mora invite, the Española boys won first place with a score of 26 from the finishing positions of their top four times. Senior Juan Branch won first place with a time of 19:26, and freshman Daniel Sanchez finished third at 19:46.
The girls team did not have enough runners to qualify as a team, but Aquino finished fifth at 27:08.
On March 16, the Sundevils competed at the Mesa Vista Invitational. The boys team again took first place, with Branch the top individual finish, Sanchez was second and junior Jose Castro was third. Aquino was second for the girls, and Hailey Renteria was third.
Velasquez said because it was such a short year he had not seen the team run very much, but he expected them to be strong performers.
“Just based on what I saw, I can tell that the raw talent was there,” Velasquez said. “We obviously haven’t been able to get the miles under then. Once they get that mileage within a full season, their times are only going to get better and they’re only going to get faster.”
At the District meet, Los Alamos runners took the top spots for both the boys and girls competitions. But on the boys side, Española was able to squeeze out second place ahead of Moriarty, 43-45. Branch led the way in seventh place at 19:13, Sanchez was right behind at 19:53, and Castro finished 10th with a time of 20:11.
For the girls, Aquino finished 10th with a 27:17 time, and Martinez was 11th at 27:53, both good enough to qualify individually.
The state championship will take place Friday, with the boys race beginning at 2 p.m. and the girls race at 2:30 p.m.