On to district
Taos cross country team looks to finish strong
It has been a long season for the Tigers cross country team.
COVID made training difficult and added extra stress to the students and staff alike. But now that the season is coming to an end, Coach Bruce Gomez is hoping his teams had fun and can push through one more meet and into the state finals.
The 3A-5A Cross Country District Meet is this Saturday (Oct. 30) at Española Valley High School, and if the Tigers can finish in the top three teams, they will qualify for the state meet. And that’s no easy feat, with powerhouse district rivals like Los Alamos and Pojoaque Valley on the list of invitees. Still, Gomez is confident his team can make it. “We’ve really grown through the season,” he said. “I’m really proud of all of them. We’ve kind of finally rounded into shape.”
If the Tigers finish outside of the top three, there is still a way for the Tigers to roar at the state meet. The top three individual meet finishers from non-qualifying teams will also get the invite to the state meet.
It’s also a young team. This year, the Tigers boys cross country team is led by sophomore Carlos Rodriguez. The girls team is led by veteran runner Marielle Gomez, with breakout freshman star Madison Rowlison-Elliot primed to take the reins. But Coach Gomez believes they are performing well beyond their years.
“We are such a young team, it took a bit to get that experience,” he said. “But I think we have a good core to build on.”
Los Alamos Invitational
On Oct. 22, the Tigers traveled to Los Alamos to take part in their final regular season meet, the Los Alamos Invitational. The THS girls team took 5th (of 8) place, and the boys took 8th (of 11).
“We want to finish strong and, hopefully, we can get an invite to the state tournament,” said head coach Bruce Gomez after the meet.
The top finisher for the boys
team was sophomore Carlos Rodriguez, who came in 26th with a time of 19:14.52 (the top place finisher was Keith Bridges from Los Alamos who clocked a time of 16:31.30). On the girls side, freshman Zoe Torres took the top Taos spot, finishing 25th with a time of 22:35.17 (the top place finisher was Leah Futey from Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, with a time of 19:13.10).
Taos will look to improve on its team standing at the District Tournament in Espanola on Saturday (Oct. 30).
Look for Los Alamos Invitational results on B2.