Socorro Runners Top Personal Bests Up North
by:
For The Mountain Mail
Socorro cross country coach Steven Montoya said last week was the toughest week of practice yet and he doesn’t plan to make practice any easier during Socorro’s first year with a cross country team.
“None of these meets really matter. They’re really just for bragging rights,” Montoya said. “Everything happens at the district meet.”
Socorro doesn’t have enough girls for a team. Senior Ellen Aster and freshman Nikki Mortensen will try to qualify for the state meet as individuals.
By contrast, the Warriors were missing two boys at Saturday’s meet – one because he was sick and the other because he was hunting – but still had enough to enter as a team, which is five runners.
Socorro’s boys finished 15th out of 23 teams, many of those teams from the super-competitive northern part of the state. Los Alamos, which is nationally ranked in cross country, won the meet. Freshman Tim Abeyta led the Warriors with a time of 18:55, while junior Trey Thunborg finished in 19:04.
“That was the first time either of them had gone under 20 minutes,” Montoya said.
Eighth-grader Isaiah Vigil finished in 20:39, while freshman Jaron Martinez came in right behind Vigil at 20:51.
Aster finished in 20:36, about two minutes faster than her previous personal best.
“I think she’s still faster than that,” Montoya said.
The six-team district meet will be Oct. 31 in Dexter. The top three teams will qualify for state. Under a new rule, the top three runners from non-qualifying teams will qualify as individuals.
“I expect my boys to qualify as a team this year and I think that’s reasonable,” Montoya said.
The state meet is Nov. 8 at Rio Rancho, where Socorro will test out the terrain in a meet Oct. 18 that is expected to include more than 60 schools. This Saturday, the runners will head to Las Cruces for a meet hosted by Oñate.
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