Lady Tiger runners earn 4th in fast Los Alamos Invitational
Both the Taos High girls and boys cross-country teams posted strong individual and team finishes in Friday’s (Oct. 26) invitational meet at Los Alamos, home to one of the fastest teams in the state.
The varsity girls ran six in the 5K race: Salome BorregoMarsh, Abigail Gunter, Erin Manchester-Jones, Ella Katz, Alex Mastor and Kelly Tonrey. Led by freshman Alyx Mastor, they earned fourth place as a team, with a sixth-place individual finish for Mastor in 20 minutes and four seconds, only five seconds behind Jane Archibeck of Albuquerque Academy.
The top runners set a hard pace from the gun. “She just went after them and stuck with them,” coach Bruce Gomez said of Mastor. Ella Katz, the reigning state champion, finished in the top 20 and coach Gomez praised sophomore Salome BorregoMarsh for running an “outstanding race.”
“We worked so hard, and we were able to feed off each other,” Mastor said of the meet. “It got our spirits up.”
The varsity boys collected an eighth-place team finish with an average time among the top five Taos boys of 19 minutes 10 seconds in the 3.1-mile race. Sam Hastings again spearheaded the effort. The five-man team consisted of Donovan Duran, Sam Hastings, Adrian Rodriquez, Joe Trujillo and Zach Trujillo.
The district meet and state qualifier is Friday (Nov. 2) at Pojoaque. Coach Gomez hopes the team can “push it up a notch on the boys’ side.” For them, the team to beat is Moriarty.
The varsity runners are supported by the JV girls team: Marielle Gomez, Trina Karlberg, Marah Khweis and Aaliyah Rael, and the JV boys John Esquibel, Jonathan Evans, Nathaniel Martinez and Duncan Stewart-Jackson.
The Los Alamos Invitational gave the Taos cross-country team a “view of all the best teams in the state,” coach Gomez said. Pleased with the performances of his teams, he indicated that the race was “very competitive!”
There are two more chances to support the Tigers this season: the district meet Friday (Nov. 2) at Pojoaque, where the races are at 3:15 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. and the state championship at Rio Rancho Saturday, Nov. 10.