Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Both of Tucumcari's teams finished out of the running Saturday in Class 3A during the New Mexico Cross-Country Championship in Rio Rancho.
Tucumcari coach Gary Hittson said he was “very pleased with the way the teams ran on Saturday” and that he’ll “look forward to next year.”
The Tucumcari boys team finished 11th with 338 points. Zuni won the Class 3A state title with 40 points, with four runners finishing in the top 10. Santa Fe Indian finished runner-up with 49 points, and Cottonwood Classical was third with 118.
Josh Chavez was the top finisher for the Rattlers, finishing 47th in 18 minutes, 44.05 seconds over the 3-mile course at Rio Rancho High School.
Next for Tucumcari were Manny Hernandez (77th, 19:52.95), Charles Prieto (85th, 21:15.95), Alexander Lujan (93rd, 23:59.65) and Joe Martinez (94th, 24:05.90). Finishing out of the team standings were Joe Garcia (95th, 24:16.45) and Britt Lusk (96th, 25:12.25).
The top individual boys finisher in Class 3A was Epherem Zerai of Sandia Prep in 16:23.85, winning by more than 20 seconds.
In the Class 3A girls state championships, Tucumcari finished 10th with 269 points. Robertson won the state title with 87 points. Zuni finished runner-up with 92 points, and St. Michael's was third with 111.
For the Lady Rattlers, Erin Encinias was the top runner, finishing 45th in 22:52.35.
Rounding out the rest of the Tucumcari lineup were A'Leaya Lucero (65nd, 24:38.0), Ashley Shipley (71st, 25:28.4), Leslie Navarette (80th, 36:16.5) and Melanie Jones (82nd, 36:16.5).
Sklyer Gee of Sandia Prep was the top girls finisher in Class 3A with a time of 20:15.1.
