Eldorado’s Turtle-Morales, Storm’s Haile romp again
Host Albuquerque Academy wins boys, girls team competition
We’re not even into October, and already their names — and more importantly, their finishes — are becoming quite familiar.
Eldorado’s Jasmine Turtle-Morales and Cleveland’s Yonas Haile endured an unexpectedly hot late September afternoon on Friday to capture cross country titles at the Albuquerque Academy Invitational.
Haile, the defending Class 6A state champion, has rolled off victories at his home meet, plus last week at Highland and then Friday after coming up short against Kirtland Central’s Kashon Harrison at the University of New Mexico’s season-opening meet.
Turtle-Morales captured St. Pius’ elite meet earlier this month and also was victorious at Highland.
When the gun went off Friday, Haile was out quickly ahead of everyone, where he remained.
“Actually, a lot more recently, I’ve been starting off fast,” Haile said. “And it’s been working pretty well for me.”
At the UNM meet on Labor Day weekend, Haile said, he made the mistake of running Harrison’s race and not his own. “I ended up getting tired and I ended up getting beat,” he said.
This revamped approach was first attempted at Cleveland’s meet, so he stuck with it at Highland and then also against the stellar field assembled Friday at the Academy.
Haile said he also wanted to get a close look at one of the boys he expects to be a chief rival at November’s state meet, Patrick Colborn of Hobbs. Colborn was not a factor Friday, finishing 13th. He was the runner-up in this meet a year ago.
“Today was more trying to figure out my competition,” Haile said, “going into the (Rio Rancho) Jamboree and state.”
Haile finished in 15 minutes, 49.72 seconds. Miyamura’s Ty McCray used a late kick over the final 20 meters or so to overtake Sandia Prep’s Epherem Zerai for second place. McCray’s time was 15:9.94.
Academy’s boys edged Los Alamos 73-75 for the team championship; the difference clearly came with both teams’ No. 4 runners. Academy’s No. 4, Oliver Pilon, placed 15th, whereas the Hilltoppers’ No. 4 finisher was 29th.
Los Alamos actually was stronger at the top, with three runners — Duncan Fuehne, Steven Strevell and Rafael Sanchez — all placing in the top seven. Academy’s top finisher was Skylar Forman, in ninth place.
Volcano Vista edged Cleveland for third place by three points, 109-112.
The girls’ race had an unusual start, insomuch as it had two starts. There was an extremely rare false start after the girls had gone about 30 meters. Turtle-Morales had already gone to the front.
“I was, like, ‘darn,’ ” she said. “I had a really good start.”
They were recalled. On the second try, Turtle-Morales went out quickly again, and led the field around Academy’s course every step of the way.
And it was a strong run by the Eagle junior, as she finished in 18:32.56. It was another half minute before Academy’s Zoe Hunter (19:02.53) reached the finish line. Sandia’s Olivia Salter was third.
“Start out fast, stay out front and keep going,” said Turtle-Morales of her race intentions. She had been runner-up in this meet the last two years.
Academy and Los Alamos went 1-2 in this race, too, only without the razor-thin margin as with the boys.
The Chargers’ 41 points easily outpointed the Hilltoppers’ 77. Eldorado (101) rounded out the top three. Jane Archibeck and Celeste Martinez finished sixth and seventh, respectively, for Academy.
ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY INVITATIONAL BOYS
Team: 1, Albuquerque Academy 73; 2, Los Alamos 75; 3, Volcano Vista 109; 4, Cleveland 112; 5, Sandia 139; 6, Albuquerque High 196; 7, Miyamura 207; 8, Eldorado 211; 9, Hobbs 232; 10, La Cueva, 261; 11, Sandia Prep 336; 12, Lovington 359; 13, Cibola 370; 14, Del Norte 383; 15, St. Pius 389; 16, Moriarty 391; 17, Laguna-Acoma 473; 18, Atrisco Heritage 517; 19, Highland 517; 20, Manzano 518; 21, Grants 604.
Individual: 1, Yonas Haile, Cleveland, 15:49.72; 2, Ty McCray, Miyamura, 15:59.94; 3, Epherem Zerai, Sandia Prep, 16:00.56; 4, Duncan Fuehne, Los Alamos, 16:10.81; 5, Steven Strevell, Los Alamos, 16:11.56; 6, Sean Dwyer, Eldorado, 16:21.59; 7, Rafael Sanchez, Los Alamos, 16:22.78; 8, Walker Quale, Albuquerque High, 16:24.31; 9, Skylar Forman, Albuquerque Academy, 16:25.47; 10, Garrett Yancy, Volcano Vista, 16:25.94. GIRLS Team: 1, Albuquerque Academy 41; 2, Los Alamos 77; 3, Eldorado 101; 4, Sandia 138; 5, Cleveland 160; 6, Albuquerque High 181; 7, Volcano Vista 182; 8, La Cueva 201; 9, Hobbs 292; 10, Grants 297; 11, Laguna-Acoma 298; 12, Lovington 336; 13, Cibola 340; 14, St. Pius 349; 15, Highland 411; 16, Manzano 417; 17, Miyamura 419; 18, Sandia Prep 447; 19, Moriarty 500.
Individual: 1, Jasmine Turtle-Morales, Eldorado, 18:32.56; 2, Zoe Hunter, Albuquerque Academy, 19:02.53; 3, Olivia Salter, Sandia, 19:06.50; 4, Leah Futey, Cleveland, 19:13.15; 5, Reilly McClanahan, Eldorado, 19:15.38; 6, Jane Archibeck, Albuquerque Academy, 19:31.91; 7, Celeste Martinez, Albuquerque Academy, 19:36.50; 8, Lila Nezar, Volcano Vista, 19:40.03 ; 9, Norissa Valdez, Los Alamos, 19:41.41; 10, Isabella Schrader, Volcano Vista, 19:43.34.