Two months of non-stop cross country meets have taken a toll on the Pojoaque Valley High School Elkettes.
“It was a little rough,” senior Consuelo Quintana said. “I think we were all, before we even started, not feeling our best today.”
As a unit, the Pojoaque girls were sore, tired and cramping, Oct. 14, throughout the hilly course that was the Rio Rancho Invite. The course slithered through the land behind Rio Rancho High School, including a steep climb up a rocky hill, before ending in the football stadium.
The state championship meet will be held on the same course, Nov. 4, so the Elkettes found the meet a good precursor to what they will face in a couple of weeks.
The Elkettes faced off against schools that, for the most part, were higher divisions than their 4A class.
It was some of the toughest competition that they have raced against so far, this season, and it marked the second time they have lined up against Cleveland High School’s Amanda Mayoral, a two-time 6A champion, who won the race with a time of 18 minutes, 38 seconds.
She finished 32 seconds ahead of the second place finisher, and two minutes, 56 seconds head of Quintana, who was Pojoaque’s top finisher.
“We’re not even focusing on them (bigger schools), really,” Quintana said. “We’re just focusing on the ones in our district. We’re just trying to prepare for districts to make it to state.”
The Elkettes did have some difficulty dealing with the mass of high-performing bodies racing around them.
The meet was noticeably more sizeable than Pojoaque’s last, the Northern New Mexico Challenge.
The Elkettes had to use a slightly different strategy than they normally would, finding themselves boxed in, trying to gain an edge, so they could have some room to run.
“You have to go around and then waste extra energy,” sophomore Alicia Sanchez said.
As a team, the Pojoaque girls finished in the middle of the pack, in 18th place.
They finished just below St. Michael’s High School, who are in their same district.
Quintana got the best time for the Elkettes, finishing 44th.
Amerie Onesalt followed her, getting 72nd place, and Michaela Martinez had the third-best time, finishing 77th.
On the boys’ side, the Elks gave a slightly stronger performance.
John Hall, who won the Northern New Mexico Challenge, Oct. 7, finished 12th overall at Rio Rancho.
Avery Torrez, who is usually neck-and-neck with Hall, came in with a time of 17 minutes, 34 seconds, finishing in 42nd place. He was 44 seconds behind Hall.
As a whole, the Elks finished higher than any other 4A school, getting eighth place at the meet.
Pojoaque was the only area school that competed in the championship division of the meet, matching up against the best competition at the Rio Rancho Invite.
Española Valley High School ran one division lower, in the large school varsity races.
Faith Trujillo finished 15th for the Lady Sundevils, leading Española to an 11th place finish in the division, out of 17 teams.
Daylon Garcia headlined the Sundevils’ effort, providing a fifth place finish with a time of 17 minutes, 42 seconds.
The next-closest Sundevil was freshman Juan Branch, who finished 16th. The boys’ team finished second at the meet, behind West Las Vegas High School.
One division lower than Española, in the small school varsity, Mesa Vista High School, McCurdy Charter School and Dulce High School clashed.
For the girls, Dulce runners emerged in strong shape. Dulce finished eighth in the division, with Amber Calabaza as the top runner.
Mesa Vista’s Aubrianna Griego finished 40th, and Maryssa Martin came in 52nd place.
The Mesa Vista boys showcased a strong performance. Consistent top runner Brian Gollas finished eighth, overall, in the small schools, and led the Trojans to a third place team performance.
The Dulce boys finished seventh.
McCurdy had two runners on the girls side and two runners on the boys side. Sophomore Jayme Bustos picked up a 46th place finish, next to Beatriz Salazar, who came in 87th.
Alain Jayme and Andres Martinez stuck together for the Bobcats, Jayme finishing 82nd and Martinez coming in 86th.