Salas gets better of good friend Scharton

Turtle-Morales wins girls Jamboree crown

Good friends Stevie Salas of La Cueva and Eric Scharton of Hope Christian ran 1-2 on Saturday morning in the boys championship race at the Rio Rancho Jamboree, the state’s largest high school cross country regularseason meet.

Salas, a junior, won the race in a time of 16 minutes, 18.50 seconds. Scharton was just under seven seconds behind.

Cleveland’s boys had a solid meet, winning with a score of 89 points as the Storm had four runners in the top

25. Piedra Vista was a distant second with 130 points, then the Huskies (180). While the meet featured nearly all of the state’s best teams, two of New Mexico’s powerhouse programs, Albuquerque Academy and Los Alamos, did not compete.

The championship division was one of three boys races at the Jamboree, which brought together more than 100 schools.

■ Justin Howey of Cottonwood Classical Prep was the winner in the large school varsity division. He had a dominant victory, crossing in 16:57.10, which would have placed him 11th in the premier race. Jason Moss of Manzano was 47 seconds behind, with O’Brien Verdin of Artesia in third place.

Cottonwood also was the team champ in this division, with 76 points. Laguna-Acoma and Atrisco Heritage were second and third, respectively.

■ Wingate’s Kyren McCray (17:43.50) and Many Farms High (Ariz.) were the small school varsity winners.

GIRLS: The back-and-forth nature of the rivalry this season between Eldorado senior Jasmine TurtleMorales and Cleveland freshman Leah Futey continued on Saturday morning.

Futey has beaten Turtle-Morales at a couple of key events, including last week’s metro meet, but it was TurtleMorales prevailing Saturday in the championship division, with a time of 19:05.20. Futey finished in 19:15.80, with Lorianna Piestewa of Miyamura third, then Emily Schoellkopf of Albuquerque High and Lila Nezar of Volcano Vista.

Eldorado (94), Cleveland (142) and Hope (175) were atop the team standings.

■ Sidney Cheromiah of LagunaAcoma (20:37.30) and the Hawks (45) took first place in the large school varsity division, where Pojoaque Valley was second and Cibola third.

Jewels Leslie of Wingate was the small school varsity division champ. Crownpoint’s team placed first with 89 points.