NM 4A Boys in 2014

Shawvan Levi figures to lead the individual title chase, but can anyone hold off Taos for the team title? Photo by Alan Versaw.

Taos won the 3A title in 2013, and appear to be very nicely positioned to repeat the feat in 2014's 4A classification.

It begins with three guys coming back with times at or near 16:30. Donevan Gravelle, Roy Madrid, and Mateo Vigil is a 1-2-3 that nobody, at least for the moment, is even close to having an answer to. Together, they make for three of the top six returning (to 4A) finishers from this year's 3A state meet race. And that's a dangerous kind of lead to spot any team. And the Tigers have three more coming back who ran sub-18 this fall.

It's telling that two of the next three schools in order are coming up from 2013's 2A. St. Michael's appears, for now, the be in the best position to catch Taos. And they should have their chances to run against Taos and measure themselves. The rest of the traditionally strong 3A programs will be trying to recover from the blows that graduation will deal them in May. Matching up to the depth of Taos, let alone their front runners, will be a serious challenge for any and all concerned.

St. Michael's will give chase with Troy Pacheco leading the charge. Javier Malcolm ran nearly even with Pacheco at state, but, with the Horsemen giving up ground to the Tigers at every position at state, it's going to take a sweeping across-the-board improvement for St. Michael's to rope the Tigers.

Zuni and East Mountain had very nice seasons in 2A this fall and are not to be underestimated. Neither, however, is the task before them.

Zuni ran a better team time at state than Taos this fall, but Zuni also loses two of their top three from state, bringing back only Tre Riley of that group. Somehow, though, my sense is that Zuni is the best positioned to chase Taos of any of the obvious candidates. Zuni has a long tradition of being good, and new challenges have a way of bringing things out of folk that they never knew was within them.

East Mountain returns Alex Heffelfinger, but has some serious catching up to do at positions 2 through 5. 

The individual field should come back in 2014 with Shawvan Levi as the tentative favorite. Levi ran second to Jereme Santistevan this fall. Tre Riley, Donevan Gravelle, and Roy Madrid ran very comparable times at state, giving them the look of the first wave of pursuit behind Levi. Others are capable of joining the hunt, but have some considerable closing to do to get within striking range. And "closing to do" means big work over the summer.

1 Taos High School (NM) 67
  1) Donevan Gravelle   16:26.00 2
  2) Roy Madrid   16:32.00 4
  3) Mateo Vigil   16:34.00 5
  4) Cade Cannedy   17:29.00 24
  5) Jc Santistevan   17:44.00 32
  Average Time: 16:57.00 Total Time: 1:24:45.00 1-5 Split: 1:18.00
  6) Tristan Padilla   17:55.60 43
  7) Theo Hummel   18:38.55 65
2 St. Michael's High School (NM) 106
  1) Troy Pacheco   16:52.00 9
  2) Javier Malcolm   17:18.00 18
  3) Kristopher Cordova   17:21.80 19
  4) Denver Luttrell   17:22.00 20
  5) Josh DePaula   17:53.20 40
  Average Time: 17:21.40 Total Time: 1:26:47.00 1-5 Split: 1:01.20
  6) Austin Luttrell   17:55.10 42
  7) Adam Nordby   18:18.00 54
3 Zuni High School (NM) 143
  1) Tre Riley   16:43.10 7
  2) Tyano Pinto   17:11.00 16
  3) Cody Latone   17:26.00 21
  4) Kamuela Unkestine   17:50.00 37
  5) Brandon Malani   18:32.90 62
  Average Time: 17:32.60 Total Time: 1:27:43.00 1-5 Split: 1:49.80
  6) Terrell Eustace   18:47.00 70
  7) Cody Kanzenbach   19:56.72 101
4 East Mountain High School (NM) 154
  1) Alex Heffelfinger   16:37.00 6
  2) Alex Mckee   17:28.00 23
  3) Isiah Padilla   17:47.00 34
  4) Ben Matins   17:52.00 39
  5) Ben Humphries   18:14.00 52
  Average Time: 17:35.60 Total Time: 1:27:58.00 1-5 Split: 1:37.00
  6) Adam Benavides   18:37.00 64
  7) Tristan Turner   19:34.00 88
5 Kirtland Central High School (NM) 170
  1) Aaron Bunny   17:06.00 15
  2) Kyle Yellowhair   17:40.88 27
  3) Jonathan Charley   17:44.00 31
  4) Darrion Miller   18:04.59 48
  5) Terrin Willie   18:05.09 49
  Average Time: 17:44.11 Total Time: 1:28:40.56 1-5 Split: 59.09
  6) Glen Allen   19:03.59 75
  7) Jace Curley   19:08.15 78
6 Santa Fe Indian School (NM) 184
  1) Mike Tenorio   16:49.00 8
  2) Thomas Lucero   17:36.00 25
  3) Francis Calabaza   17:38.00 26
  4) Daniel Aguino   18:12.00 51
  5) Marcus Victorino   19:01.98 74
  Average Time: 17:51.40 Total Time: 1:29:16.98 1-5 Split: 2:12.98
  6) Adrian Tafoya   19:05.00 76
  7) Ricardo Melton   19:30.35 84
7 Socorro High School (NM) 197
  1) Manuel Licano   16:30.00 3
  2) Damien Cardenas   17:14.00 17
  3) Seamus Parker   17:57.00 44
  4) Matthew Lucero   18:03.00 47
  5) Asher Guengerich   19:33.00 86
  Average Time: 17:51.40 Total Time: 1:29:17.00 1-5 Split: 3:03.00
  6) Ryan Hanauer   19:43.60 91
  7) Jahaziel Martinez   21:58.12 118
8 Shiprock High School (NM) 205
  1) Shawvan Levi   15:55.72 1
  2) Domonic Crosby   17:42.06 29
  3) William Todachennie   17:59.03 46
  4) Anthony Begay   18:06.12 50
  5) Jared Thompson   19:10.34 79
  Average Time: 17:46.65 Total Time: 1:28:53.27 1-5 Split: 3:14.62
  6) Aaron Gould   19:16.54 80
  7) Artemio Curley   19:33.48 87
9 Pojoaque Valley High School (NM) 225
  1) Derrick Grasmick   17:02.05 12
  2) Michael Vigil   17:48.00 35
  3) Dominic Roybal   17:58.98 45
  4) Avery Torrez   18:42.00 66
  5) Chris Fierro   18:44.00 67
  Average Time: 18:03.01 Total Time: 1:30:15.03 1-5 Split: 1:41.95
  6) Joseph Fresques   18:45.00 68
  7) Louis Gallegos   19:06.00 77
10 West Las Vegas High School (NM) 244
  1) Moises Coca   16:57.30 11
  2) Sammy Martinez   17:48.00 36
  3) Kevin Villanueva   18:19.75 55
  4) Conrad Atencio   18:27.35 59
  5) Miguel Coca   19:23.45 83
  Average Time: 18:11.17 Total Time: 1:30:55.85 1-5 Split: 2:26.15
  6) Enrico Tenorio   19:57.95 102
  7) Devin Maes   19:58.00 103
11 Hope Christian High School (NM) 269
  1) Peter Siminski   17:05.46 14
  2) Matt Weinstein   17:50.03 38
  3) Jacob Torres   18:20.72 56
  4) Mikel McKinley   18:45.35 69
  5) Jarrod Trainor   19:45.19 92
  Average Time: 18:21.35 Total Time: 1:31:46.75 1-5 Split: 2:39.73
  6) Tim Dykhuis   19:49.74 96
  7) Jacob Barker   19:51.50 97
12 Ruidoso High School (NM) 271
  1) Jared Pollock   17:27.00 22
  2) Tyler Davis   17:42.00 28
  3) Bob Cisco   17:46.00 33
  4) Aaron Forster   19:19.00 81
  5) Zach Parra   20:13.00 107
  Average Time: 18:29.40 Total Time: 1:32:27.00 1-5 Split: 2:46.00
  6) Ian Shaw   20:13.50 108
  7) Jesse Tercero   20:41.00 114
13 Thoreau High School (NM) 354
  1) Montana Miller   17:43.73 30
  2) Israel Gonzales   18:22.00 57
  3) Ray Daughtery   19:31.00 85
  4) Michael Shelly   19:37.00 89
  5) Keith Henio   19:46.00 93
  Average Time: 18:59.95 Total Time: 1:34:59.73 1-5 Split: 2:02.27
  6) Wyatt King   20:02.88 104
  7) Luke Largo   21:39.00 117
14 New Mexico Military Institute (NM) 374
  1) Juan Estremadoyro   16:53.00 10
  2) Alex Kivela   18:35.00 63
  3) Jacob Pinon   19:21.00 82
  4) Joshua Pinon   20:07.70 106
  5) Daniel Marquez   20:40.00 113
  Average Time: 19:07.34 Total Time: 1:35:36.70 1-5 Split: 3:47.00
  6) Jack Esposito   24:11.60 121
15 Bosque School (NM) 389
  1) Jason Stewart   17:04.75 13
  2) Dominic Cisneros   18:53.05 72
  3) Connor Cole   19:00.45 73
  4) Chris Abbott   20:22.00 111
  5) Alex Scott   22:42.12 120
  Average Time: 19:36.47 Total Time: 1:38:02.37 1-5 Split: 5:37.37
  6) Jakob Wils   24:39.00 122
16 Sandia Prep High School (NM) 401
  1) Victor Jury   17:53.50 41
  2) Treyjan Felipe   18:31.05 60
  3) Gary Toya   18:47.88 71
  4) William Cheek   20:20.83 110
  5) David Gordon   22:19.82 119
  Average Time: 19:34.62 Total Time: 1:37:53.08 1-5 Split: 4:26.32
17 Wingate High School (NM) 416
  1) Trenen Hardy   18:25.55 58
  2) Antonio Tom   18:31.95 61
  3) Joshua Bitsilly   19:53.20 98
  4) Justin James   19:55.35 99
  5) Willie Becenti   19:55.70 100
  Average Time: 19:20.35 Total Time: 1:36:41.75 1-5 Split: 1:30.15
  6) Cody Yazzie   20:04.00 105
  7) Mitchell Jim   20:30.00 112
18 Bloomfield High School (NM) 441
  1) Emmanuel Martinez   18:16.25 53
  2) Rhett Rybacki   19:41.22 90
  3) C.j. White   19:46.35 94
  4) Logan Ortiz   19:48.41 95
  5) Bryan Williams   20:13.78 109
  Average Time: 19:33.20 Total Time: 1:37:46.01 1-5 Split: 1:57.53
  6) Donovan Begay   20:43.50 115
  7) Brad Charley   20:52.41 116