New Mexico Girls Cross Country Countdown: #3 Rio Rancho

2021 New Mexico Cross Country Countdown
Jaren Brooks


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.

#3 Rio Rancho Rams

Rio Rancho will have its sights on maintaining the hot streak as they return four starters from their 2020 5A championship team. Tessa Holderman may be gone but they return just about the best scoring five in New Mexico. Loryn Trujillo (8th) and Violet Francisco (9th) are the All-State returners for the Rams. Marleigh Smith (16th) and Esther Cameron (20th) return this season with the potential to be among those All-State performers this year. Dacia Marquez just may be the missing link to take over in Holderman's place. Even district rival Sue Cleveland isn't close to knocking off the Rio Rancho at the moment. Alamogordo and Albuquerque will seek to close the gap but again they are looking at needing potentially four runners within the top 20 to match this level of competition. At this point, it's really about other schools trying to play catch up with the Rams as they go for their second consecutive 5A trophy.

5A Girls