Serving the High Plains

Tucumcari girls finish eighth overall

The Tucumcari girls team finished eighth overall Saturday at the prestigious Ron Valdez Memorial Cross-Country Invitational meet at Pecos.

Tucumcari coach Gary Hittson, noting the course is “one of the hardest in the state,” said he was “very pleased with the way the kids performed” against 470 runners at the meet.

Erin Encinias was the top Lady Rattlers runner, finishing 28th in a time of 22 minutes, 59 seconds.

Rounding out the rest of the Tucumcari girls roster were A’Leaya Lucero, 41st in 24:12; Lizet Castillo, 62nd in 27:00; Leslie Navarrete, 72nd in 30:21 and Ashley Shipley 73rd at 30:46.

For the Tucumcari boys, Manny Hernandez remained the top runner, finishing 53rd in 19:49. The Rattlers finished 17th in the team standings.

Completing the rest of the varsity boys roster were Ayden Lusk, 83rd in 21:18; Curtis Gonzales, 91st in 22:15; Alex Lujan, 100th in 24:00; Joe Martinez, 110th in 25:47; and Britt Lusk, 114th in 27:15.

For the Tucumcari middle-school girls team, Ashton Smith was 67th in 20:22, Lelanie Navarrete was 74th in 22:35 and Samae Skinner was 81st in 25:46. For the middle-school boys, Andrew Clark was 55th in 33:11, Tyrus Jones 56th in 33:16 and Khobe Salvador 59th in 38:44.

Tucumcari’s teams next are scheduled to run at the Hobbs Invitational at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 3.