The weather might not be getting any cooler, but the days and weeks are passing quickly, and the 2012 New Mexico high school cross country season is rapidly nearing it’s conclusion.
On its traditional calendar date (three Saturday’s before the NMAA state championships) the Rio Rancho Cross Country Jamboree went off as planned and without a hitch.
The meet represents the largest rendezvous of teams from around the state, with close to 70 teams split across two divisions – one for the small schools and the other for those with higher enrollments. It serves as a benchmark for all schools of their progress to this point in the season, and it sets the tone for the postseason that is nearly already upon us.
The first varsity race of the day was the small school boys division. Filled with teams from the A, AA, and AAA classifications, the event featured 241 finishers from 35 scoring varsities. Notably absent from the field were the boys from Laguna Acoma High School, who opted to race up against the bigger schools (more on them later) as well as the best small school individual, Alonso Chavez from Mora High School, who chose the same path as the Hawks.
In their absence, Pojoaque Valley High School seized the day. With a breakout race, it was their star, Jereme Santisteven who beat all others to the finish line. His time of 16:36 was good for a 6-second margin of victory over Zuni High School #1 McKenz Leekya, and Santisteven will henceforth need to be considered amongst the favorites to win the AAA individual crown in three weeks.
Pojoaque also brought home the team title, showing very good depth (they had the best #3, #4, and #5 in the field) to post a low 96-point tally in defeating St. Michael’s high school (129 points).
The next race was the large school boys division, which featured the much anticipated rematch between Cleveland kingpin Luis Martinez and Mora’s Chavez, who had been itching for another crack at Martinez since their famous showdown under the lights at the UNM golf course seven weeks ago.
Chavez didn’t back down, and tried his hardest to stay with Martinez, but the reigning NXN-SW individual champion was simply too much for him to handle. Martinez broke away in the middle mile to win easily in 15:50. Chavez faded to third in 16:23.
Regardless, Mora is a 2A school, and it would be a shocker to see anyone other than Chavez atop the podium in that classification next month.
The team battle was a Cleveland stomping. After Martinez put a 1-spot on the scoreboard, their junior #2, Aaron Flores finished in second. Then the Storm packed the remainder of their scorers into the top 14 overall to win easily with just 30 points. Albuquerque Academy was a distant second with 94 and the host school, Rio Rancho, rebounded nicely from an off-meet at the ABQ Metro Championships to finish third with 102. Laguna Acoma drove home their season long message that student body size isn’t everything by finishing a convincing 4th, well ahead of many other much larger schools.
The girls small school division followed, and the first runner across the line was a familiar face in a familiar place, just not necessarily in the expected race.
Rachel Fledderman from Sandia Preparatory Academy is one of the best runners in New Mexico, regardless of classification, and easily could have held her own had she run up against the bigger schools. However, she made the selfless decision to stay down, and dedicated her talents to her team rather than the pursuit of individual glory.
Good call, Rachel.
The Sandia Prep Sundevils took a big step forward in their quest for the AAA team crown by winning the division with a smooth 97 points, well ahead of 2nd place Shiprock, who counted to 160. Fledderman won individually in 20:02, but the biggest boost for the Maroon and Blue came from Hanna Grober who finished 3rd overall and gives Sandia Prep a scary 1-2 punch.
That leaves us with one more varsity race – the large school girls varsity division. While the anticipation for this one took a big hit when competitors and spectators realized that Los Alamos High School wouldn’t be in attendance, it still represented a loaded race both in terms of teams and individuals.
Jenna Thurman from Del Norte, who some had written off after a disappointing 5th place finish at ABQ Metro, rebounded in a big way. She won easily in 19:13. St. Pius High School placed their three superstars all in the top 7, and Malia Gonzales from Cleveland was her consistent self, finishing 4th overall.
An interesting story was freshman Meghan Aguilera from Onate, who has been dominating her competition in the southern half of the state all season. This was her first opportunity to prove that she could hold her own against the teams in the north – and she did just that. Her 3rd place overall finish (ahead of Gonzales), hurls her name into the conversation about potential individual AAAAA winners next month.
The team title went to Eldorado High School, who once again showed that, through at least 7 places, no one could match their depth. 74 points was enough to overcome Albuquerque Academy (100) and St. Pius (109).
The Eagles have done enough to earn ‘favorite’ status heading into next month’s state title race, but they are by no means locks to win. Cleveland High School finished 4th with 146 points, but they were running without Nicolette Pacheco, their usual #2 girl who finished 9th at last year’s state championships. As was the case at this point last year, there is a Storm approaching fast in the rearview mirror.
As mentioned earlier, notably absent from either field was Los Alamos High School, which took a needed off week during their competition gauntlet. They’ll be back in action against first-rate competition next weekend when they host their home invitational.
Another week, another signature competition, and as the season winds down, there is much to be excited about.