Pojoaque senior James Viarrial punched the air as he crossed the finish line Oct. 10 at the Capital Invitational cross country meet in Santa Fe.
Viarrial was the first New Mexico runner to cross the finish line at the meet and finished in second place overall with a time of 16:47. Donovan Torres, of Texas’ Lubbock Christian High School, had set the pace in the race, crossing the finish line in 16:10, just a second off the course record.
“We wanted to make a statement,” Viarrial said.
Viarrial led Pojoaque to the team title. The Elks scored 67 points to beat District 2AAA rival, Santa Fe Indian School, which scored 75 points. Rio Rancho, a Class AAAAA team, was third with 85 points in the 13-team field.
“That’s the first time we’ve finished first anywhere in several years,” Pojoaque coach Alan Lockridge said. “We stepped up and performed really well.”
Viarrial was followed by teammates Daniel Santistevan and Sam Roybal, who finished ninth and 10th, respectively. Dominic Martinez came in 17th and Brandon Jaramillo, nursing sore knees, came in 29th to complete Pojoaque’s scoring as the Elks’ fifth runner.
“They’ve been swollen all week,” Jaramillo said. “I have to push myself to be up there.”
For the second consecutive week, the Elks edged Indian School. The Braves appear to be Pojoaque’s primary competition for the District 2AAA title. St. Michaels, the defending Class AAA state champion and another District 2AA team, finished sixth at Capital with 175 points.
“(My team) have worked hard from the get go,” Lockridge said. “This didn’t happen overnight.”
The Española Valley boys team took eighth at Capital, scoring 200 points. Derrick Martinez finished 13th overall to pace Española, but was the only Sundevil runner to break out of the pack. Luis Alvarado was 34th in 18:23, but the rest of the Sundevils were over a minute behind Martinez’s 17:28 time.
“I don’t think they went out fast enough and got caught in the pack,” Española coach Lawrence Naranjo said. “We’ve got to work on getting out faster.”
Girls Meet
Española Valley junior Gabrielle Fresquez wants to have company at state this year.
Fresquez qualified as an individual for the 2008 Class AAAA cross country meet as an individual, but made the trip to state alone as the rest of the Sundevils failed to qualify as a team.
Española finished fifth in the girls team competition at Capital, scoring 130 points. It was the best finish by a Class AAAA team from New Mexico in the nine-team field. Fresquez paced the Sundevils, finishing in 15th place.
“Our practices are getting way harder and our times are improving,” Fresquez said. “I want us all to make it to state this year.”
Pojoaque finished eighth in the team standings with 222 points and was paced by Sophia Torres, who finished sixth overall. East Mountain’s Caroline Kaufman, the defending Class A-AA state champion, finished first in the girls race. Rio Rancho , the defending Class AAAAA state champion, won the girls team title with 50 points.