The Montoya's

Socorro XC in the News Read All About It

In just its second year of existence, the Socorro High School cross country team has shown that it is the team to beat in District 3-3A.

The Socorro boys team won its first district championship with a 32-point score and the girls team finished second in district with 44 points. Host team Cobre finished second on the boys side with 39 points and first on the girls side with 30 points.

Socorro didn't have the fastest individual, but three Warriors trailed Cobre's Xavier DeLaTorre to give Socorro a definitive edge. Senior Trey Thunborg led Socorro with his second-place finish in 18:39, Owen Azevedo was third in 19:03 and Dylan Gallegos took fourth in 19:13. Socorro also had runners finish in 10th and 13th place. "We were able to win district despite missing two of our normal top-five boys," coach Steven Montoya wrote in an e-mail to the Chieftain. "Winning district was our goal since last season when we finished fifth. There was no secret pill for our success, just consistent hard work over time."

Tim Abeyta was knocked down in the race by a runner from another school and didn't score, according to Montoya, and Sierra Cahall was out sick.

"I am obviously very proud of the way the kids ran, especially after Tim went down. Isiah Vigil and (Raul) Contreras stepped it up to make sure we won the title," said Montoya. "They ran with a lot of heart."

Gallegos, Azevedo and Thunborg were chosen for the All-District team and Thunborg was also honored by Montoya as Socorro's Runner of the Week. Montoya was picked as the district's Coach of the Year.

Socorro had the top two runners of the meet, DamiAna Contreras in 21:39 and Dayna Guerro in 22:51, and both were selected as All-District runners.

This season was the first that Socorro had enough girls to field a team for cross country, and the second-place finish makes them eligible to run at the state meet.

Socorro only had five girls run at district, the minimum for a team, since some runners are dual athletes who chose to play with the soccer team in the first-round state playoff game against Santa Fe Prep.

"Last year, we only had two girls running so this is just as huge of an improvement as the boys," said Montoya. "Going from two to five girls is more than doubling but next year, we need to double again to around 10 girls. Having that many would definitely put less stress on the girls and ease the transition to varsity."

Socorro did have individuals run at the state meet in 2008, but this is the first year either the boys or girls team will run as a team. The cross country state championships will be held at Rio Rancho High School on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Class 3A girls will run at 9:25 a.m., and the Class 3A boys race at 11:35 a.m.