THS runner finishes 6th at Roswell meet

Tucumcari’s Alex Bueno De La O finished sixth overall in the varsity boys race at the five-team Pecos Valley Invitational cross-country meet Saturday at Roswell High School.

The junior finished the 5,000-meter course in a time of 19 minutes, 44 seconds, just a second behind New Mexico Military Institute rival Jacob Hayes.

Other Tucumcari boys runners were Brayan Carreon Reyes (21st, 22:20), Julian Flores (22nd, 22:31), JT Turpin (24th, 23:23) and Paxton Smith (30th, 24:58).

Rylan Sarracino of Roswell won the race in 18:05, beating runner-up Gerardo Mendoza of Hagerman by 18 seconds.

Tucumcari finished fifth with 94 team points. Roswell won the team title with 36 points, finishing six ahead of Hagerman. NMMI finished third with 64 points.

In the girls race, Tucumcari’s MiKayla Klinger finished 25th in 34:54. Teammate Maritza Flores was 28th in 42:18.

Hagerman’s Yalitza Caballero won the race in 22:19, outpacing the runner-up by more than 40 seconds.

Hagerman won the team title with 26 points. Tucumcari didn’t have enough runners to compile team points.

Tucumcari’s runners have a week off before participating in the City of Natural Lakes Invitational in Santa Rosa on Oct. 28.

That is the last regular-season meet before the district championships at Socorro on Nov. 3.