Amira Cunningham ran 13th in last fall's state cross country, but raised a few eyebrows with a state title in the 3200 this spring. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Like Piedra Vista, the subject of the first article in this series, East Mountain is a new school. Opened in 1999, East Mountain is one of New Mexico's first charter schools. While East Mountain has excelled early and often on the academic level, that same kind of success has come with greater difficulty in athletics.
In cross country, that could all be about to change. In fact, the change has already started to happen.
For most fans of New Mexico high school cross country, East Mountain is nearly synonymous with Caroline Kaufman, who won four consecutive 2A girls individual titles from 2008 - 2011. Kaufman regularly traded strides with several of the top girls in the state of New Mexico during her high school career.
No doubt partly inspired by Kaufman's success, the East Mountain girls went from a team that d...