Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari’s top two cross-country runners ran fast. But they discovered during the massive Academy Extravaganza meet on Saturday at Albuquerque Academy they’ll need to run faster.
Top Rattlers runner Alex Bueno De La O, a senior, ran the 5,000-meter course — which also hosts the sport’s state championships — in 17 minutes, 50.59 seconds.
His teammate, Fernando Ureste, ran it in 18:32.79.
However, Bueno De La O and Ureste finished only 16th and 24th overall in the Class 1A/2A race, respectively.
The top runner, Oak Grove Classical’s Joshua Marquez, finished nearly 90 seconds faster, at 16:18.67. Others finished almost a minute quicker than the top Tucumcari duo.
“They said said they were kind of humbled,” THS coach Tim Clark said. “They’re trying to figure out how to get faster.”
Clark said there still is time to do that before the state-qualifying district meet at Raton on Nov. 2.
“We’ll push it and use speed drills,” he said. “We need to cut a minute, a minute and a half.”
Other Tucumcari runners at the meet were Patric Szaloy (132nd, 21:57.20) and Paxton Smith (198th, 27:04.10).
Oak Grove Classical also won the 1A/2A boys team title with 70 points, with Laguna Acoma second with 83 and Pecos third with 91.
The Rattlers didn’t field a full team because one runner, Bryson Klinger, was in Indianapolis for the FFA Convention.
Two of THS’ girls runners also were attending that event, and the team’s top runner, Heaven Maes-Arellano, was busy with cheerleading events over the weekend.
Isidro Martinez was the top runner for San Jon at the meet, finishing 169th in 24:06.58.
Other San Jon runners included Travis Lee (184th, 25:22.26), Nathaniel Erwin (196th, 27:00.51) and Luis Mendez (202nd, 28:21.26).
For the San Jon girls, Rayna Sena finished 45th in 24:26.65.
Olivia Marquez of Oak Grove Classical was the top girls 1A/2A runner, finishing in 19:47.58. McCurdy won the girls team title with 43 points.
Tucumcari runners will compete Saturday in the City of Natural Lakes Invitational at Santa Rosa.