New Mexico Cross Country Countdown Series

The New Mexico Cross Country Countdown breaks down the top 25 New Mexico boys and girls teams returning this fall. These rankings will include projected top runners and weighing how each team may do in their respective districts and state competitions. Changes to class alignments and adaptions to state championship format have been taken into consideration. These rankings are based on past two seasons of performances and do not include teams that did not compete last year due to a lack of athletes and team information. All top returning runners are only projections and may include athletes no longer on the team due to transfer or out-of-state relocation.

#24 St. Pius Sartans

St. Pius star runner Aidan Trujillo is now gone after being Mr. Reliable going back to the 2018 season. Now the Sartans will rely on a trio of juniors with Samuel Buershen leading the charge coming off a 37th place finish this spring cross country season. Not too far behind him was teammate Brian Kalb finishing 42nd. Now 3/5 doesn't exactly make for a state contender especially among the strength of 4A. They will count on Andrew Garcia along with some newcomers to the program to step up and find a way to a district 5-4A victory. They are in a position similar to many in the class and in the state with runners with little to no experience running varsity races after the long hiatus and reduced season that was this past year. Looking toward the future, St. Pius with some key additions could see these three taking St.Pius to the next level by 2022 in hopes of landing a podium finish.

4A Boys

2020 State finish: N/A

State titles: 0

Individual State Champions: 0

2021 St. Pius Rankings

New Mexico Ranking	24th
4A Ranking	7th
District 5-4A Ranking	1st

Top Returning Runners

Name	Grade	Personal best (5k)	Best state finish
Samuel Buershen	Jr	18:43	37th
Brian Kalb	Jr	19:13	42nd
Andrew Garcia	Jr	20:27	N/A