Carisma Lovato logged New Mexico's top girls finish with an 18:38. Photo by Alan Versaw.
When some future historian of cross country catalogs all of New Mexico's performances at Nike Cross Regionals - Southwest, 2013 won't be remembered as the best of times.
In the wake of a very exciting state meet, punctuated by upsets and shining performances, New Mexico struggled to put memorable performances on the board Saturday at Toka Sticks. There is no way to sugarcoat the picture. Whether due to the weather or some other factor, Colorado and Utah enjoyed the lion's share of success at NXR-SW. Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico struggled.
Albuquerque Academy topped the boys team performances with a seventh-place finish. Significantly, that was only seven points behind Arizona juggernaut Corona del Sol. While that result did not match the early season rankings for Coach Kedge's Chargers, it did give evidence of a solid rebound for the Red Army following the state meet. It's mostly a young team, and this year's learning experience may pave the road to future conquests.
But, as you scrolled down through the team results, New Mexico did not show up again until the Los Alamos appearance at #22.
Things were no brighter on the girls side.
The 13th-place finish for Los Alamos seemed emblematic of the fortune the rest of the state's teams would endure. Albuquerque Academy would land in 15th, Eldorado in 20th, and Rio Rancho in 23rd to round out the NM team entries.
The top boys individual finish would go to Jared Mayoral in 18th (15:56), with Kevin Wyss next in 34th (16:06). Jereme Santistevan, Niles Thomas, and Colin Hemez added top-50 finishes. Carisma Lovato would take top honors among the New Mexico girls in 20th (18:38). Cassey Amberg was the lone other finisher among the top-50 girls.
Kim Chapman and Donevan Gravelle notched New Mexico's top finishes in the open races.
The great thing about cross country, however, in that another season is never more than nine months away. While this year's races did not go as well for New Mexico's teams as they have in some recent years, a great deal can change over the interim.