MID-SEASON MEET
Cross-country teams head to invitational
As local boys and girls high school teams gear up for the Capital City Invitational Cross Country Meet Saturday, the season marks the halfway point.
And the usual contenders are starting to emerge from the field.
GIRLS
Although the Los Alamos girls’ remarkable run of seven straight championships came to an end last season, the Hilltoppers have reloaded in an effort to get back the blue trophy in Class 5A.
“They are much improved over last year,” Los Alamos co-head coach Kathy Hipwood said. “They finished super strong last year, but it took them a long time to get there. We’re very happy with the way they finished, but this year is different.”
With state runner-up Zoe Hemez and fifth-place finisher Lidia Appel joined by Norissa Valdez, who didn’t run at state last season, but has been impressive thus far in 2017, the ’Toppers are poised to make another run at the top.
“What we’re working on is bringing down the pack time of the top five,” Hipwood said. “We have three pretty good front runners. And then a fourth runner that splits the remaining runners. It’s a strong group and we’re hoping they’re going to get better.”
Last season was something of a transition season because 2015 was heavily senior laden, so it’s taken the replacements a bit to find their groove, she said. “I think losing that amount of ability, and when you lose so many seniors, it’s sometimes hard,” Hipwood said. “They were inexperienced and they were very, very young. We were really happy with how they progressed.”
Los Alamos certainly could be a handful come November’s state meet.
Defending 4A champs Taos already looks to be a handful, with state runner-up Cora Cannedy, who has been a team leader for years, back for her final season, said Tigers coach Ben Gomez.
“We’re steadily working at trying to improve and get better,” he said. “We’re just training away, but it’s still pretty early in the season, relatively speaking.”
Although the Tigers are replacing one top runner in the graduated Elizabeth Reyes, another has emerged in Ella Katz, who was ninth at state last season and looks to take a big step forward this year. Likewise for Isabella Padilla, who was 12th at state last season.
Having Padilla and Katz threaten top finishes alongside Cannedy would go a long way toward helping Taos win its fourth championship in five seasons. “That’s something as a group they think about, but they don’t talk about it,” Gomez said. “We just want to do as well as we can. We’re really fortunate to have really good kids who really love to run. That’s a good thing for us. It makes for really good training.”
In 6A, Santa Fe is looking to build upon its eighth-place finish at state last season as senior team leaders Daisy Gephart and Rue Allison continue to improve on the course and as leaders, said coach Peter Graham.
“The girls are actually in better shape, as far their consistency and their numbers,” he said. “We lost two of our top nine, so that means we have seven of our top nine coming back. Unfortunately, this year, we’re kind of senior heavy with girls, but they work real hard. I’m very proud of the way they’ve come together as a group.”
BOYS
Los Alamos has had a tremendous rivalry with Albuquerque Academy over the years, with one of the two schools owning the championships in the state’s second-largest classification every year dating back through 1998.
Unfortunately for the Hilltoppers, the past two seasons, it’s been the Chargers celebrating at the end of the meet.
But Los Alamos, led by precocious freshman Rafael Sanchez, aims to change that this year.
“This is a group that’s not all that super experienced,” Hipwood said. “But they’re solid, and they just get better and better.”
Sanchez burst on the scene with a fourth-place finish last season and could very well challenge for an individual title, something the Hilltoppers have not had since Colin Hemez in 2013
“We have the front runner in Rafael Sanchez, who did great as an eighth-grader last year,” the coach said. “And we have a group of solid boys that can propel each other forward, and get closer and closer to Rafael.”
The team is coming off a strong meet at Cleveland that gives Hipwood some optimism.
“They saw what they can do at Cleveland,” she said. “We’re hoping that gets better and better.”
Although usually loaded with athletes, the Taos boys have not mirrored the success of the girls, not having won since 2013.
To help the cause this season, the Tigers have turned to another fall sport, seeking some reinforcements as soccer players Aidan Heflin and Otto Van Willigen are participating as dual athletes.