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 the 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.

#8 Eldorado Eagles

Eldorado may be ready to return to trophy form after just missing out in the spring. Eagles have plenty of low sticks including senior Naseem Dhaouadi who placed 15th in March along with senior Gustav Bourdon who ran to a 35th place performance. They also return Aiden Hadley (40th), and Nick Moore (42nd) to a team that came just one point shy of replacing Alamogordo on the podium. They depart one but have the potential to see Jett Smith return to cross country after a 54th place finish in 2019 and boasting a 16:59 personal best 5K. If the Eagles do have Smith to rely on this fall they immediately become a state championship contender primed with experience among their scoring five. The uncertainty of who will be filling that role as the fifth runner on the team is the only thing holding them back right now at 4th among 5A schools but this is a team that is easily one runner away from possibly winning their 2nd blue trophy in the program history.

5A Boys

2020 State Finish: 4th

State Titles: 1997

Individual State Champions: Jimmy Butler (1997) Matt Tebo (2004, 2005, 2006) Kevin Palmer (2007) Bryce Palmer (2008) Taylor Potter (2013)

2021 Eldorado Rankings

New Mexico Ranking	8th
5A Ranking	4th
District 2-5A Ranking	1st

Top Returning Runners

Name	Grade	Personal Best (5K)	Best State Finish
Naseem Dhaouadi	Sr	16:41	15th
Gustav Bourdon	Sr	17:45	35th
Aiden Hadley	Jr	18:13	40th
Nick Moore	So	18:13	42nd
Jett Smith (Proj)	Jr	16:59	54th (2019)