Five runners qualify for state meet

Erin Encinias finished second at the District 3/4-3A cross-country meet Friday in Socorro to become among five Tucumcari runners who qualified for this weekend's state meet.

Tucumcari's three qualifying girls will compete at the Class 3A state championship meet Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and two boys will compete at 11:35 a.m., with both races at Rio Rancho High School.

Tucumcari coach Gary Hittson said he was proud of his athletes' performances Friday.

“They all ran their fastest times of the year at the district meet,” he said.

Encinias' runner-up performance Friday was clocked in a time of 19 minutes, 30 seconds over the three-mile course.

Tucumcari teammates A'leaya Lucero, who finished eighth in 21:28, and Lizet Castillo (12th, 22:31) also qualified for the state meet.

Leslie Navarette finished 18th for Tucumcari in 25:25 but did not qualify for the Rio Rancho event. Ashley Shipley did not compete Friday because a lingering illness has kept her sidelined for the past two weeks.

For the Tucumcari boys, Manny Hernandez qualified for state by finishing ninth at Socorro in a time of 16:57, as did Ayden Lusk (12th, 17:24).

Other Rattlers who competed but didn't qualify for state were Curtis Gonzales (24th, 19:02), Alex Lujan (25th, 19:23), Joe Martinez (30th, 21:56), Andrew Clark (31st, 22:18), Britt Lusk (32nd, 22:27) and Tyrus Jones (35th, 26:34).

Tucumcari was competing against runners from Cobre, New Mexico Military Institute, Socorro and Hot Springs during the district meet.