Los Alamos girls return to the top position on the 4A podium for their 6th title in 7 years - though it was the first time the lady Hilltoppers were able to defeat Albuquerque Academy this season

In 5A, Eldorado girls finish season undefeated

the Horsemen of St. Michael’s ran their best race at the right time, win the first boys cross country championship in the school’s history

Full Stories:

Girls 1-2A - 3A - 4A - 5A
Boys 1-2A - 3A - 4A - 5A

1-2A Girls
As expected the Navajo Pine Lady Warriors won the first girls’ state championship in the history of their school. What wasn’t expected was the 2nd place finish for the Santa Fe Prep team. The Lady Griffins placed all their scoring runners in the top 5 to upset the defending state champion Navajo Prep team.

Top 5 Team
1. Navajo Pine 44
2. Santa Fe Prep 69
3. Navajo Prep 74
4. Gateway Christian 155
5. Cloudcroft 168

Shawna Winnegar of Santa Fe Prep won her first individual championship. The Griffin Junior took control of the race with less than half a mile to go. Early on the race was controlled by Rehoboth’s Hannah Chee. Chee led a pack of four through the mile and then opened up a 6 second lead by the 2 mile mark. At that time Winnegar was 12 seconds back and looked like she was fading. Over the last mile Winnegar and Bosque’s Amanda Sayer launched a comeback surge that succeeded in reaching the lead with les than 800 meters to go. After the pair passed Chee, Winneger took control of the race and put 9 seconds on Sayer.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Shawna Winnegar, Santa Fe Prep 19:35
2. Amanda Sayer, Bosque 19:44
3. Chantel Hunt, Navajo Pine 19:48
4. Hannah Chee, Rehoboth 19:58
5. Emily Nobles, Gateway Christian 20:12
6. Guin Benaly, Navajo Pine 20:18
7. Marqia Begay, Navajo Prep 20:19
8. Courtney Schultz, Cloudcroft 20:21
9. Camille Schultz, Cloudcroft 20:21
10. Shawna Woody, Ramah 20:32

3A Girls
The St. Michael’s Lady Horsemen won their second straight state championship. They were able to defeat their district foe the Pojoaque Elketts by 23 points. St. Michael’s placed 4 girls in the top 10 and rounding off their scoring five with a 25th place performance by Danielle Rael. Cobre was a distant 3rd.

Top 5 Teams
1. St. Michael’s 42
2. Pojoaque 65
3. Cobre 119
4. Wingate 128
5. Santa Fe Indian School 134

“Killer” Kate Norskog of St. Michael’s High School posted the fastest time of the day in winning the 3A Girls individual title. The 8th grader made it look easy as her race was never in doubt. When the course looped back on itself Norskog was able to catch site of her teammates; 3 of which finished in the top 10. When she did see them she was relaxed enough to throw kisses at them.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Kate Norskog, St. Michael’s 18:38
2. Patty Murray, St. Michael’s 19:21
3. Jesenia Najera, Pojoaque 19:29
4. Camille Martinez, Pojoaque 19:30
5. Jarita Diaz, Cobre 19:38
6. Tess Amer, St. Michael’s 19:39
7. Sophia Torres, Pojoaque 19:55
8. Carolyn Ives, St. Michael’s 19:55
9. Bronwyn Bedrick, Sandia Prep 20:34
10. Alexandria Torres, Robertson 20:40

4A Girls
The Lady Hilltoppers of Los Alamos returned to the top position on the podium on Saturday. It was the teams 6th title in 7 years. This was the first time Los Alamos was able to defeat Albuquerque Academy this season. The Lady Chargers finished 2nd and were not able to defend their title. Kirtland Central picked up the green trophy in third.

Top 5 Teams
1. Los Alamos 38
2. Albuquerque Academy 52
3. Kirtland Central 85
4. St. Pius X 98
5. Belen 148

Albuquerque Academy’s Julia Foster used a last mile surge to win her first state championship. At the 1 mile mark the race was led by Belen’s Aleona Reyes. She was followed closely by Foster and Santa Teresa’s Jacqueline Campos. By the 2 mile mark Campos and Foster were alone in the front of the pack with Campos enjoying a slim lead. Down the stretch Foster was just too strong for Campos. Los Alamos’ Margaret Wood used a 6:28 last mile to walk down Reyes for the green medal.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Julia Foster, Academy 18:55
2. Jacqueline Campos, Santa Teresa19:00
3. Margaret Wood, Los Alamos 19:23
4. Aleona Reyes, Belen 19:35
5. Ali Blum, Los Alamos 19:48
6. Desi Baca, Del Norte1948
7. Lyndsay Harper, Academy 19:49
8. Christina Johnson, Piedra Vista 19:50
9. Holly Walker, Los Alamos 19:59
10. Amanda Kerr, Kirtland Central 20:11

5A Girls
The Eldorado Golden Eagles were able to finish what they started last year and win the 5A state team championship. Eldorado finished their season undefeated and dominated this race like they have every other. The Golden Eagles put 6 girls in the top 15 and had a 1:09 pack time. Gallup finished 2nd; and their 10 year winning streak came to an end. The last time a non-Gallup team won state was in 1995 when La Cueva took home the blue trophy. The 2006 version of the La Cueva Lady Bears surprised many and finished 3rd.

Top 5 Teams
1. Eldorado 34
2. Gallup 87
3. La Cueva 111
4. Sandia 132
5. Rio Rancho 150

As expected; Elba Holguin of Valley won her first state championship on Saturday. Holguin led the race wire-to-wire. For the first two miles she was followed closely by Carldbad’s Brandy Castillo. But Castillo was not able to stay true to the torrid pace that was set by Holguin and she faded during the last mile. Eldorado’s Rachel Velarde ran from off the pace and finished within 10 seconds of Holguin for 2nd.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Elba Holguin, Valley 18:53
2. Rachel Velarde, Eldorado 19:03
3. Brandy Castillo, Carlsbad 19:09
4. Jordan Brown, Gallup 19:12
5. Allison Bedonie 19:28
6. Kirisy Hannah 19:33
7. Sarah Ellison, Alamogordo 19:48
8. Callie Osborn, Sandia 19:53
9. CMichelle Schenck, Clovis 19:57
10. Kepra McBrayer, Highland 19:57



Boys

1-2A Boys
The Navajo Pine Warriors won their second straight title in dominating fashion. Navajo Pine put 4 runners in the top 10 as they were the first half of the Navajo Pine sweep of the 1-2A team titles. Peñasco and Pecos shared a mascot (Panther) and a common goal (winning a state trophy). Going into the meet it looked like the faster Panther team would take home the 3rd place trophy. Both Panther teams ran their best races of the year and it was Jemez Valley who traveled home without team hardware.

Top 5 Teams
1. Navajo Pine 33
2. Peñasco 79
3. Pecos 83
4. Jemez Valley 99
5. Gallup Catholic 104

Navajo Pine’s Ryan Nez won his 2nd straight individual title. The senior won the race wire-to-wire and the outcome was never in doubt. Pecos’ Patrick Ortiz ran from off of the pace to finish 2nd. Ortiz ran almost perfect splits (5:24-5:22-5:24) in his runner-up performance. Ryan’s little brother Randy Nez finished 3rd as he nipped Ben Sanchez at the finish line.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Ryan Nez, Navajo Pine 15:49
2. Patrick Ortiz, Pecos 16:10
3. Randy Nez, Navajo Pine16:27
4. Ben Sanchez, Peñasco 16:28
5. Martin Aguilar, Peñasco 16:42
6. Stephen Jochem, Gallup Catholic 16:50
7. Chris Weaver, Gallup Catholic16:59
8. Gabe Lilly, Navajo Pine 17:01
9. Tim Chee, Navajo Pine 17:02
10. Jacob Sandoval, Peñasco 17:08

3A Boys
The Horsemen of St. Michael’s ran their best race at the right time and win the first boys cross country championship in the school’s history. They placed 4 runners in the top 15 and defeated the Wingate Bears by 8 points despite the fact that Wingate put 2 runners in the top 5. Zuni had defeated Wingate a week earlier in a district showdown but was not able to replicate that performance. The Thunderbirds would have to settle for the 3rd place trophy.

Top 5 Teams
1. St. Michael’s 60
2. Wingate 68
3. Zuni 72
4. Hope Christian 134
5. Santa Fe Indian School 147

As expected Tony Sanchez won the 3A individual championship. Shanchez led by 4 seconds after the mile and was then caught and passed by Wingate’s Shawn Begay. The surge by Begay was strong but damaging as the Wingate runner was not able to stay true to the aggressive pace and had to drag his body across the finish line for 2nd. Michael Hart did his best to catch Begay but he ran out of real estate.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Tony Sanchez, West Las Vegas 16:11
2. Shawn Begay, Wingate16:29
3. Mike Hart, St. Michael’s16:30
4. Logan Wauneka, Wingate16:32
5. Juan Trujillo, Pojoaque 16:34
6. Brandon Tsethlikai, Zuni 16:34
7. Greg Vallo, Laguna-Acoma 16:35
8. George Concho, Laguna-Acoma 16:41
9. Ryan Fenton, Hope 16:44
10. Dominic Pacheco, St. Michael’s 16:44

4A Boys
If the New Mexico State championship would have been a fight card the 4A boys race would have been the Main Event and Michael Buffer would have been hired to introduce the two heavyweights. The favorites and defending champion Albuquerque Academy Chargers were able to win their 3rd straight championship in a bout that had to go to the cards as there was no knockout in this bout. Los Alamos utilized a more aggressive strategy and raced closer to the front during the first mile of the race. The Hilltoppers believed that they had to be within striking distance of Academy’s #3 Pat Zacharias. Two Hilltoppers (Allen Pittman and Gareth Gilna) were strong enough to catch Zahcarias and two others (Nathan Romero and Kyle Pittman) also took home all-state honors. But Academy was just too tough as the Chargers placed the front runners in the top 2 spots and put all of their runners in the top 15. The Shiprock Chieftains were a distant 3rd.

Top 5 Teams
1. Albuquerque Academy 31
2. Los Alamos 35
3. Shiprock 108
4. St. Pius X 115
5. Belen 135

Ben Johnson and Dustin Martin led the 4A race wire to wire. The Academy pair took the field out hard as they passed the mile in 5:00. After the mile mark no one came close and “BenJo” and “D-Mart” made it a duel for the individual title. Johnson was victorious and was able to post the 2nd fastest time of the day.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Ben Johnson, Academy 15:30
2. Dustin Martin, Academy 15:50
3. Allen Pittman, Los Alamos 16:00
4. Gareth Gilna, Los Alamos 16:04
5. Pat Zacharias, Academy 16:08
6. Kevin Burnett, St. Pius X 16:14
7. Nathan Romero, Los Alamos 16:16
8. Kyle Pittman, Los Alamos 16:19
9. Joshua Garcia, Belen 16:25
10. Douglas Torres, St. Pius X 16:26

5A Boys
For the first time in 15 years Gallup had to travel to the New Mexico State Championships. The boy’s team made sure that they would not drive home without a state championship. The Bengals upset the Sandia Matadors. Gallup’s 38 second pack time led to a dominating performance. A handful of teams were able to defeat the Bengals at smaller meets but at the state meet it resulted in a 37 point win. Manzano surprised many and took home the green trophy for 3rd.

Top 5 Teams
1. Gallup 73
2. Sandia 110
3. Manzano 123
4. Rio Rancho 127
5. Eldorado 131

Running legend Tony Sandoval could have handed out the individual medal before the race started. Matt Tebo of Eldorado won his 3rd straight individual title in dominating fashion. The senior Golden Eagle took the field out hard and no one put up a fight. The field decided instead to battle it out for 2nd. Nicholas Barrera was the one of only 3 runners in the top 10 who had race on the championship course before Saturday. He used that experience to defeat hometown favorite Josh Bueno.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Matt Tebo, Eldorado 15:25
2. Nicholas Barrera, Carlsbad 15:57
3. Josh Bueno, Rio Rancho 16:06
4. Cory Kalm, Sandia 16:12
5. Bryce Palmer, Eldorado 16:13
6. Matt Everett, La Cueva 16:13
7. Gabe Mondragon, Rio Rancho 16:18
8. Alex Cabaday, Los Lunas 16:19
9. Sammy Smith, Gallup 16:19
10. Anthony Royba, Cibola 16:19

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