New Mexico's best cross country athletes toed the line against the West region's top talent this past weekend at the Desert Twilight XC Festival at Toka Sticks Golf Club.
In the individual girls rankings, Rio Rancho High School's Mariah Galbraith held her own, placing 2nd with a time of 17:23.3 against heavy hitters from Colorado, California, and Texas. Desert Twilight marks Galbraith's third top-two finish this season so far, suggesting her dominant streak shows no signs of slowing down. Eldorado High School's Gianna Rahmer also placed sixteenth at this highly competitive meet with a time of 18:13.7 followed by her teammates freshman, Helene Gessner (23rd) and 8th grader (impressively, one of the youngest in the field) Isla Rahmer (24th).
The young Eldorado girls team earned third place against tough powerhouse teams in the region, no doubt cementing their reputation as one of New Mexico's top 5k teams. Los Alamos High School's girls followed close behind in 7th. Eldorado's performance suggests a potential stand-out race coming up at the NXR Southwest meet in November set to take place on the same course.
On the individual boys' side, Taos High School Senior, Billy Romero placed 8th as the top New Mexico athlete in the Sweepstakes division with a time of 15:00.2. Rio Rancho High School Senior, Alejandro Casaus followed close behind in 15th with a time of 15:13.2. In the Championship division, Elijah England of Navajo Prep High School took first place with a time of 15:08.9. Silas Brown of St. Pius X High School followed behind in 7th with a time of 15:51.8.
In the Sweepstakes team rankings, Los Alamos High School boys were the top New Mexico team in 28th place, and Rio Rancho High School boys took 29th. Meanwhile the Navajo Prep High School boys earned 1st place in the Championship division ahead of powerhouse Colorado program, Niwot High School. St. Pius took 5th in the Championship as well.
Desert Twilight certainly set the tone of New Mexico's standings in the region, especially ahead of the NXR Southwest meet in November. Next weekend we look ahead as NM's powerhouse teams face off at big in-state invitationals and championships including the APS Metro Championships in Tijeras and the John Grimley Invitational in Santa Fe, both meets on October 3rd.