Aubrey Cordova could barely believe her time when she first heard it.
The McCurdy Charter School freshman did not see, or did not look for, her name flashing across the videoboard at Albuquerque Academy during the Nov. 6 state cross-country championships, until someone told her the time well after the race ended.
“That’s the fastest I’ve ever ran,” she said with near-disbelief. “Feels amazing. Twenty-one?”
Her time of 21 minutes, 28 seconds, was good for a sixth-place finish and all-state recognition as a very bright spot for the future. It was 70 seconds faster than she ran at the Oct. 16 pre-state meet on the same course. And she thinks she would have done even better had she gotten a faster start.
“I almost got her,” Cordova said, pointing to Pine Hill’s Kairi Etsitty, who finished two seconds ahead of her. “But she got me.”
The Lady Bobcats finished in ninth place with 205 total points in the race. The McCurdy boys team finished in 18th place, led by Kodi Rodriguez in 76th.
Peñasco
For Gilbert Valdez, winning by a large margin has become the expectation at every race he runs, even in the state championship.
The Peñasco High School senior took home the A/2A state championship while leading his team to a third-place finish, winning the race by over 45 seconds.
“I was just so happy,” Valdez said. “I was looking for my parents the entire time.”
Valdez’s time — 16 minutes, 0.8 seconds — was less than a second behind the winner of the 5A race later in the day. He said he was hoping to break 16 minutes, and set his pace accordingly, but came up just short.
Valdez was running in second place for the first mile, but by the 1.5-mile mark had a six-second lead, and was all alone for the second half of the race. He said that strategy also worked for him a few weeks earlier at the pre-state meet.
“It’s been one heck of a run, and I’m really happy with how things happened for me,” he said.
The Lady Panthers took first place in the Girls A/2A team championship, with eighth-grader Rochelle Lopez finishing third.
Valdez’s Dixon Elementary classmate and training partner Lucas Kedge, now a senior at Volcano Vista High School, finished 34th in the 5A race as part of the championship-winning team.
Rowan Flores, also from the Española area, placed sixth while running for Los Alamos High School.
Large Schools
Española Valley’s Daniel Sanchez finished in eighth place in class 4A, running a 16:56 — a season-best time, and a full minute faster than the time he thought he ran when he crossed the finish line.
“High 16s? Whew,” Sanchez said after being told his time. “I’ve been trying to break that PR all season. Oh my god. Pure excitement right now. I thought I would be in the high 17s.”
Sanchez fought in his race all the way to the finish. The sophomore jockeyed with a pack of six runners, all among the very best in the state, the entire way, all of whom finished between fifth and 10th and within a five-second span.
“I just wanted to beat them,” Sanchez said. “Try to get top ten for my home, the Sundevils.”
Sanchez said he wanted to run in honor of former Sundevil Juan Branch, who finished 22nd at the state meet in March in his senior season.
In front of him were five seniors and two juniors, making the Sundevil the highest-placing upperclassman. And given the pace of his improvement (Sanchez ran a 18:36 at the state tournament in March) he could easily be competing for state titles within a year.
Freshman Hailey Renteria, also an individual qualifier, finished in 32nd place on the girls side with a 22:03, slightly off from her time at the pre-state meet but an improvement of more than four minutes over her run in the previous state championship. She placed fourth in the race among freshmen, and will likely continue to improve her times in the coming years.
“It was challenging,” Renteria said. “But when you get through it, you have a big sense of relief that you did it.”
Renteria said she wanted to play to her strengths by passing people on the uphill portions.
A young Pojoaque Valley girls team placed fifth in the race, with the top five runners all finishing close together.
“We sat out last year, we came in late,” said Pojoaque coach Gloria Martinez. “We have our plan. We have our foundation. And these girls are hungry.”
Sophomore Elizabeth Towles was the top of the group, taking 33rd place overall at 22:04, but the strength of the team comes with their teamwork. And their five top finishers include three sophomores and a freshman.
“It’s the future,” Martinez said. “This whole team returns next year. So, the future looks really, really good.”
Pojoaque sophomore Matteo Nagle finished No. 32 at 18:16, and senior Lucas Tiede was 49th, both as individual qualifiers.
Small Schools
The Dulce teams had a tough challenge in getting back into the season after not competing at all during the 2020-21 year. By coach Louis Martinez’s own admission, runners came back out of shape after being out for so long during the pandemic.
But Louis Martinez said just being with the “family” was the most important part.
“Reuniting, coming together after COVID,” he said. “We finally got our team together to run, and our fanbase support. It’s all a good feeling for everybody to come out.”
The Hawks boys team finished 17th in the crowded field. Junior Isaiah Reval ran strong, finishing 17th with an 18:20 time, and was in the top 10 at the 1.5-mile mark.
“Isaiah’s done pretty good this year,” Louis Martinez said. “It’s a learning experience for him, because this is the first time he’s ran in a state meet at this level. So, he knows what to work on in the summer time, he knows what to practice on, and what it takes to be a state champion.”
The Dulce girls only had four runners finish the race and did not qualify for the team standings, with senior Aliana Vigil as the top finisher in 46th place at 24:34.
“I saw a lot of excitement, nervousness,” Louis Martinez said. “I told them, ‘Once you get out on that field, you just leave it all out there. Do your best, that’s all I ever ask of each and every one of you.’”
The Mesa Vista Trojans finished 15th as a team with a combined 389 score. Freshman Kenneth Gallegos was the top finisher at 19:48 in 49th place, and junior Jordan Cervantes was close behind.
Coronado High School sophomore Marcos Martinez finished No. 102 as the lone Leopard, at 21:22.