Augustus Cuch takes his win from last weekend's SFIS meet into this weekend's Zuni Patason Amesoli meet. Photo by Blake Wood.
Sure, there's the big-deal meet in Albuquerque on Saturday, but there's a lot more going on in New Mexico this weekend. Let's take a quick tour of the state to see what's lining up for your viewing and racing pleasure (and, yes, racing is a pleasure!).
Starting up north, there's a grand collision of the northern schools to decide what is being called the Northern New Mexico Challenge. And, on a weekend when all the Albuquerque schools are otherwise preoccupied, this meet concept is a wonderful idea. And, if you're not looking forward to the St. Michael's/Toas/Pojoaque Valley showdown, something is just missing for you. This should be a very good look at what lies ahead in the 3A ranks.
Moving westward a little, Bloomfield takes this weekend to host the San Juan County programs. We'll see if everyone is running at full strength for this one, but it seems likely that--between Desert Twilight and the Jamboree--at least Piedra Vista might be giving some of the varsity regulars a breather.
Going south from Bloomfield, we eventually meet up with the Zuni Patason Amesoli Invitational. The Zuni folks have to be happy about the opportunity to see their team running at home this weekend. Cross country makes travel warriors of us all, but sometimes it's just nice to stay at home, avoid the long travel, and run close to home. East Mountain joins a stellar collection of mostly reservation schools at this one. The results of this meet should prove to be of tremendous interest to several classifications, but perhaps most especially in the 2A ranks.
Not all that far from Zuni, Silver takes their turn at hosting the southern New Mexico schools. After a couple of weekends of big meets in Las Cruces, some of the schools coming may be in the mood to rest a few of the regulars, but we'll try to keep a close watch on the results even so.
And, in the southeastern corner of the state, NMMI makes Roswell cross country central for this weekend. If the New Mexico schools stay inside the state borders, this one has the potential to be a fairly large meet.
If we head from Roswell back to the Albuquerque area, we can make a short little detour to pick up the Los Lunas Invitational. Any larger sized school from anywhere close to Albuquerque area but not quite meeting the criteria of "Albuquerque Metro" should be there--and perhaps a smaller school or two as well.