ALBUQUERQUE — When it comes to Neveah Cachora, Española Valley cross country coach Loren Martinez pulls no punches in speaking about his senior star runner.
“I think it’s time she gets her flowers, her recognition,” he said Saturday after Cachora finished 10th in the Class 4A state meet at Albuquerque Academy in a time of 19 minutes, 41.4 seconds. “Just because it’s not basketball or football she just kind of flies under the radar. In my opinion, she’s the best athlete Española has had in decades. Certainly the most accomplished and I think she needs to get her flowers.”
The top 10 finish earned her All-State honors for the third the time in her four years.
“And 4A is so deep,” Martinez said. “She would probably finish top 20 overall regardless of class. She’s one of the best in the state.”
Cachora had to dig to earn her finish as she tussled with several others across the hilly course.
“She’s a closer, she knows how to finish,” Martinez said. “I tracked her the whole way and she was running with a pack, a couple of them. She kept it close and at the finish she’s pulling away. At mile two, there were three of them fighting for 10th and she pulled away from them.”
Helping her team to a top 10 finish was a strong motivating factor, Cachora, who is looking to run cross country and track in college, said.
“I wanted to get through this race and push through so my girls could have a chance at a good finish,” she said. “For me, 10th, I’m happy with it. I could have pushed myself a little bit more, but I’m happy with the result.”
With Cachora leading the way for a young group of runners, the Sundevils finished seventh with 218 points. Los Alamos won with 29 points, placing all seven runners inside the top 20.
“They all ran really good across the board,” he said. “It was a really good race for all of them. They ran together. Seventh place, that’s not bad at all, especially when we lost a lot from last year, so I’m really happy with the finish.”
Freshman Christiana Branch impressed as well, coming in 22nd in a time of 20:52.3 and showed that she is ready to lead the team in the future, Martinez said.
“She did well,” he said, noting she was fifth among runners her age or younger. “Looking at her splits, she kept climbing and getting stronger throughout the race, picking off girls at each split. She ended the year on a solid note.”
Branch is a focused athlete who will be a strong role model for the team moving forward, the coach said.
“She has natural ability as a runner,” he said. “I told her after the race that it’s her team now and we’ll go as far she goes for the next three years and she’s ready for it.”
The back-end runners grouped together, but all showed promise of improvement for the future as all but one are expected to return.
Sophomore Morgan Sandoval was 75th in 23:50.0, freshman Candi Romero, 78th in 24:16.6, senior Ingrid Valenzuela, 80th in 24:29.0, sophomore Kennia Grajeda, 87th in 24:43.6 and sophomore Miranda Jordan, 91st in 25:18.3.
On the boys side, junior Elijah Martinez still showed the lingering effects of an illness that has hampered his training over the past month. He finished 47th in 18:16.4.
“This course is tough, that’s why it’s the state course,” he said. “The goal is to go out there and try and PR (personal record). My body hasn’t felt great since a previous race in Artesia, when I PRed and had a killer race. But after that, I’ve had some rough races, and this was one of them.”
Elijah Martinez actually went out hard and was sitting in 24th after the first mile and was still in 32nd after the second, but he just couldn’t maintain that pace. He said he’s hopeful that he will be fully recovered and regain his fitness level to perform well in the upcoming post-season regional and national races, with the Nike Cross Regional Southwest set for Nov. 22 in Mesa, Arizona.
“Elijah didn’t have the race he wanted,” Loren Martinez said. “Unfortunately, that’s kind of what I was predicting. He’s had a hard month. He went out there and he battled. For the first mile he went out hard and tried to will his body to work with him. He finished strong for how he’s feeling. He’s probably down on himself, but he ran a good race for what he had to deal with.”
Pojoaque Valley sophomore Pete Archuleta was 76th in 19:13.3 and Sundevils eighth-grader Damian Whittaker was 88th in 19:36.1, after just being brought up to varsity in time for the district meet.
“Damian battled, too,” Loren Martinez said. “This was his first big race. He’s really raw. I don’t think he realized the stakes, but that might have helped because there were no expectations so he could run free. It was a pretty solid run for the first time.”