The Pojoaque Elks boys cross country team may not have won the Santa Fe Indian School Invitational Oct. 3 but the Elks did give warning to other Class AAA teams that it is the team to beat in District 2AAA and in the race for the state title.
Pojoaque came in second out of 12 teams with 75 points behind Los Alamos, a Class AAAA power, which scored 53 points. The Elks narrowly defeated the race’s hosts and district rival, Indian School, by four points.
“We weren’t perfect, but we did some really good stuff,” Pojoaque coach Alan Lockridge said. “It’s going to be a dogfight.”
The Elks pulled it off by packing four of their runners into the top 20 with James Viarrial leading the way, finishing seventh with a time of 17:37. Sam Roybal finished ninth, Daniel Santistevan was 15th and Dominic Martinez 20th for Pojoaque. The Elks’ fifth runner, Brandon Jaramillo, finished 24th to complete the scoring for the Elks.
The Braves were paced by Santa Clara Pueblo’s Trevor Merhege, who was eighth with a time of 17:43. Indian School also had four runners in the top 20.
“Now, we have the target on our backs,” Lockridge said.
Los Alamos’ Kyle Pittman took first with a time of 16:42, just three seconds faster than Tim Chee, of Class AA Navajo Pine.
Derrick Martinez paced the Española’s boys team, coming in 17th with a time of 18:03. The Sundevils finished fifth in the team standings, scoring 178 points.
“I thought they did pretty good considering the competition,” Española coach Lawrence Naranjo said.
The Pojoaque girls team didn’t fare nearly as well as the boys, coming in seventh out of 10 teams with 189 points.
Sophia Torres paced Pojoaque, coming in sixth with a time of 21:13. Defending Class AAA state champion Kate Norskog of St. Michaels took first with a time of 20:21.
Los Alamos won the girls team title with 44 points. Indian School was second with 86 and Wingate third with 99 points.
The Española Valley girls took fifth with 157 points and were paced by Gabriella Fresquez, who was 20th. Marquita Talache was 26th and Frachesca Serrano 29th for the Sundevils.