New Mexico Girls Cross Country Countdown: #6 Albuquerque


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.

#6 Albuquerque Bulldogs

Might this be the best Albuquerque High team ever assembled? It certainly is quite the returners to make for an interesting 5A state meet. No team in the state of New Mexico could possibly make more sense as a fan favorite than the Bulldogs. For a program that has been around as long as they have and never has hoisted a blue state championship trophy, no other Albuquerque high team looks more promising than this fall 2021 team. Led by Ava Straton who was the 5th place finisher in March. Seniors Sofia Hren (21st), Safiya Zavala-Sweet (31st), and Sofia Sanchez (36th) round out the list of returners for the Bulldogs. They will be earning everything they achieve this fall as teams like Rio Rancho, Sue Cleveland, and Alamogordo don't hold anything back. At the moment they include one of the better lists of returners but also have not had a history for having depth past 4th and 5th runners. If they can find one or two reliable runners to lift some of the load from these upperclassman anything is possible for the Bulldogs.

5A Girls

2020 State Finish: 4th

State Titles: 0

Individual State Champions: 0

2021 Albuquerque Rankings

New Mexico Ranking6th
5A Ranking3rd
District 5-5A Ranking1st


Top Returning Runners

NameGradePersonal Best (5K)Best State Finish

Ava Straton

Jr19:165th

Sofia hren

Sr20:5821st

Safiya Zavala-Sweet

Sr21:2731st

Sofia Sanchez

Sr21:4836th