The Española Valley boys cross country team is starting to take shape, but coach Lawrence Naranjo still has trouble getting his strongest team together.
The Sundevils took home a third-place trophy from the Meadow City Invitational hosted by Robertson High School Sept. 27, but that was without two key runners. Junior Adam Martinez, who was Española’s top runner at the Belen Invitational Sept. 20, and junior Steven Trujillo, who normally scores as Española’s fifth runner, both missed the 6 a.m. team bus to Las Vegas.
Naranjo said a full-strength Sundevils team might have been unstoppable.
“I think we could have easily won the meet if we had everyone there,” Naranjo said. “If they don’t show up, what can you do?”
Those runners who did show up acquitted themselves well, although Naranjo had to move a junior varsity runner to the varsity team.
“They ran a lot better than they did last week,” Naranjo said.
Junior Luis Alvarado was the first Española runner to cross the line, coming in seventh overall with a time of 17:01. Sophomore Rudy Salazar III was hot on his heels, finishing ninth in 17:04.
Junior Derrick Martinez was 11th with a time of 17:24, and senior James Flores was 23rd with a time of 18:38.
The fifth runner to score for the Sundevils was Paul Bustamante, who had moved up from junior varsity. He was 46th with a time of 20:22 for Española, giving the Sundevils a total of 95 points.
Pecos finished first with a total of 66 points and Peñasco scored 80 points for second place.
“The kids we had there all ran well,” Naranjo said. “We’re headed in the right direction.”
Maestas Takes
Second
The Española girls team also finished third, paced by senior Naomi Maestas, who finished second overall with a time of 21:05. Junior Dulce Avitia was ninth with a time of 21:45, while sophomores Gabriella Fresquez and Gabriella Trujillo were 14th and 15th. Fresquez’s time was 21:49, while Trujillo’s was 21:57, giving the Sundevils four runners under 22 minutes.
Sophomore Ariana Espinosa was 34th, giving Española a team score of 74 points.
Santa Fe Prep took first with 37 points and West Las Vegas was second, scoring 44 points.
The Sundevils compete in Class AAAA, which is dominated by two teams: Albuquerque Academy and Los Alamos, perennial powerhouses that are often nationally ranked.
Naranjo said his goal for the season is to qualify both his teams for the Class AAAA state cross country meet. The Sundevils can accomplish that by finishing among the top three teams at the District 2AAAA meet.
District 2AAAA is dominated by Los Alamos, but the Sundevils have a good shot at taking second or third place ahead of the other district competitors: Taos, Bernalillo and Capital.
“Hopefully, we run our best race (at state),” Naranjo said. “Anything’s possible with hard work, and miracles do happen.”