Last year, Pecos made a reasonable contest out of the state meet, but Laguna-Acoma ended up with the title. If Pecos is going to keep it as close again this year, they will have to find replacements for a couple of key runners, including state champion Antonio Varela.
Meanwhile, Laguna-Acoma brings back five of the top 12 returners from last year's state meet in the persons of Christopher Salvador, Augustus Cuch, Isaiah Kelsey, Patrick Keyope, and Jacob Riley. That could be just a little intimidating.
For a closer look, here's what last year's state top 50, with graduating seniors removed, looks like (a question mark means a runner of uncertain year of graduation):
2 Eric Eridon East Mountain 16:36.70 2
3 Alonzo Chavez Mora 16:53.60 3
5 Christopher Salvador Laguna Acoma 17:06.40 5
6 Tyrell Natewa Rehoboth 17:10.20 6
7 Jimmy Buchanan Santa Fe Prep 17:14.00 7
8 Kevin Hardy Navajo Pine 17:19.10 8
10 Augustus Cuch Laguna Acoma 17:25.00 10
11 Isaiah Kelsey Laguna Acoma 17:25.60 11
12 Pj C De Baca Pecos 17:31.00 12
?13 Joseph Luna Estancia 17:34.30 13
15 Patrick Keyope Laguna Acoma 17:43.60 15
16 Jacob Riley Laguna Acoma 17:44.30 16
17 Roy Madrid NMMI 17:46.60 17
18 Matthew Torrez Pecos 17:47.60 18
19 Leandrew Dailey Navajo Prep 17:49.20 19
20 David Wauneka Navajo Prep 17:50.80 20
21 Kyle Evaldson Santa Fe Prep 17:54.60 21
?23 Michael Marroquin Tucumcari 17:56.50 23
?24 Marchez Coriz NMMI 17:59.30 24
25 Cameron Riley Laguna Acoma 17:59.60 25
27 Andy Humphries East Mountain 18:10.50 27
28 Aaron Lujan Pecos 18:10.90 28
30 Matias Romero Penasco 18:11.70 30
31 Johnny Vigil Pecos 18:15.60 31
35 Nathan Cowan Estancia 18:27.80 35
36 Martin Skeet Rehoboth 18:31.40 36
37 Ryan Evaldson Santa Fe Prep 18:37.10 37
?38 Daniel Manuelito Newcomb 18:37.90 --
39 Rodney Toya Jemez Valley 18:41.30 38
40 Tenzin Dorjee Santa Fe Prep 18:46.70 39
41 Joshua Alcon Mora 18:49.50 40
42 Ryan Harrison Bosque School 18:51.50 41
43 Antonio Larez To'Hajiilee 18:51.50 --
44 Dj Casados Santa Fe Prep 18:53.60 42
45 Kenneth Potter East Mountain 18:53.70 43
?48 Dominic Pacheco Tucumcari 18:55.80 46
49 Tristin Jones Tohatchi 19:00.50 --
At this point, Pecos appears to be as close as anyone, even with two graduation blowing two major holes in the fabric of last year's team.
Another way of looking at this picture is, as we've done with the other pieces in this series, by ranking the returning 3200s from the track season just completed. When we do that for 2A, we get the following (allowing that there are probably a few gaps here due to incomplete results collection from this spring):
Laguna-Acoma's Christopher Salvador doesn't show in the 3200 rankings from this spring, but only because he was busy running 1600s and 800s. It would seem Laguna-Acoma has all the pieces in place for a repeat, provided they do the work this summer and into the fall. For now, at least, complacency would seem to be public enemy number one at L-A.
Santa Fe Prep, Rehoboth, Pecos, and Zuni (newly arrived from 3A) are nicely positioned to have solid teams, but all four of these teams, and the rest of 2A for that matter, figure to be chasing Laguna-Acoma for classification honors.
At the 2A level, depth is a challenge that never seems to go away. Finding at least five who can run, minimally, 18-something is a task that makes coaches grow prematurely gray. And, when Laguna-Acoma enters the season with five guys who ran 17:42 or better last season, there aren't a lot of options for covering that kind of advantage.
Santa Fe Prep's position is strongest. The Blue Griffins return five who ran 18:44 or better last year, led by Jimmy Buchanan and Kyle Evaldson. And there is time to cover the spread, but it will be no small task if they get it done.