Zuni hoisting their 20th Straight 3A Cross Country Title ( Photo by Adam Maxwell)
Athletes: Kameron Eustace, Alec Lastyano, Andrew Romancito, Derek Zunie, Kyle Awelagte, Mekai Begay, Deron Lastyano
School: Zuni
Event: 3A Boys State Cross Country Championship
Year: 2021
For the teams making their return to the cross country scene in the fall of 2021, Zuni carried the biggest weight of expectations. No other school carries such prestige in the land of enchantment than Zuni as they went into this championship with more hardware on the mind. They would go up against defending champions Cottonwood Classical and a true rival in Tohatchi. Both Zuni and Tohatchi consist of the best runners in the classification with Melvin Scott and Kameron Eustace who have a pair of top-five state finishes to their accolades. They would inevitably take things down to the wire in the final stretches of the race with Scott etching Eustace by three hundred of a second to claim the individual crown. The big blue trophy would however return to the boys in yellow and blue as they combined for a 32 point victory over Tohatchi and Cottonwood Classical. Plenty of emotions filled the stadium that was filled with Zuni faithful that roared throughout the campus with the huge following that this team embodies. For a team that essentially had to wait exactly two years to return to the podium in epic fashion.