Mackenzie Everett bided her time early, then dominated late, leading La Cueva with a 19:16 finish. Photo by Alan Versaw.
All season long, it’s been all about Eldorado. Eldorado has been beating people with impunity. But, on this most important of days in the season, there came a usurper to the throne.
On the day when it counted most, La Cueva came up big and snapped Eldorado’s string of state titles. Out with the Eldorado regime; in with the La Cueva regime.
But, you might not have realized anything unusual was up if all you looked at was the top ten. Eldorado was very comfortably ensconced in the top ten, with Crissey Amberg taking first, Cassey Amberg taking second, and Jessie Hix slipping into eighth. Orange has a way of showing up, and Eldo’s top three did what they needed to do.
Navy blue doesn’t show up nearly as well as orange, but La Cueva quietly grabbed a 3-4-5 courtesy of the efforts of Mackenzie Everett, Abigail Napier, and Tiziana Dehorney. Clearly, the Bears meant to make a fight of it, even if their school colors tend to blend in with the masses of singlets on the course.
Through three finishers each, Eldorado held an 11-12 advantage. While that’s a stronger showing than La Cueva had posted all season, Eldorado had been quietly effective at 4 and 5 all season long.
It was a bad day for that season-long pattern to slip a notch, as La Cueva was running spectacularly today at 4 and 5. Libby Weeks slipped in at 17th (16 team points) and Noelle Hendrickson at 24th (22 team points), throwing the challenge into Eldorado’s court.
Eldorado’s answer was a 20 and 29—and that would be not nearly good enough. The season is long and the hardware goes to the team that runs best at state. And, on November 9, 2013, that team was the La Cueva Bears, by a score of 50 to 60.
While Nick Martinez’s crew was getting the best of the Eagles for the first time this season, there was another story of two of interest taking place as well.
Volcano Vista, a team that has been on a steady uphill climb all season long, took third behind the sixth-place effort of Rebecca Castillo.
Rio Rancho’s title hopes took a telling blow when Molly Klein, who had been running with Crissey Amberg in the lead in early stages of the race, dropped out of the race. The short-handed Rio Rancho team limped home in a very respectable fourth.
Top teams outside of the greater Albuquerque area were Clovis in sixth and Onate in seventh.