Sam Prada and Emmitt Tibbets run together in the combined Boys Varsity and JV race. Emmitt finished 24th in the Varsity race (5th ‘Topper) and Sam finished 10th in the JV race (4th ‘Topper). Photo by Blake Wood
Elizabeth Buck was overall winning of the Girls JV race. Photo by Blake Wood
By BLAKE WOOD
Assistant Coach
LAHS Track and Field
The Hilltopper Cross Country teams ran terrific races at their Home Meet on Friday afternoon at the LA Golf Course, despite a lightning delay that caused the Girls JV race to be cut short and the Elementary School Mile to be postponed until next Friday.
The Varsity Girls once again showed their strength, taking the team win with 34 points, ahead of Cleveland and 4A rival Albuquerque Academy, both with 81 points. Leading the team for the first time this season was freshman Elisabeth McNiff, 4th overall in an excellent time of 19:27 of the hilly 5k course. She was followed closely by Ensley Jorgenson (5th), Grace Montoya (7th), Mila Moseley (8th), Abigail Swigert (10th), Emmeline Keller-Moore (13th), and Amelia Hill (21st).
The Varsity Boys further closed the gap on Albuquerque Academy with their 3rd place finish behind AA and Cleveland. On Friday, they were only 23 points behind AA, after trailing them by 63 points last week and 187 points early in the season. And they beat 4A rival St. Pius X (5th, 120 points), who had finished ahead the previous week. The Hilltoppers were the only team with three boys in the top-10 overall. They were led by Kaj Maupin (7th, 16:50), Koen Christensen (8th, 17:02), and Gus Ovaska (9th, 17:03). Scoring was rounded out by Cole Luscher (23rd), Emmitt Tibbitts (24th), Oliver Mosby (29th), and William Hudlemeyer (31st). Looking ahead to the State Championship, Head Coach Steven Montoya commented “When you take out the Cleveland runners who finished 3-4-12-17-21 and add the Taos duo who can break up the 1-2 finish from Academy at the LA Invite, well… things could get very interesting! ”
The Girls JV race was cut short due to lightning, with much of the field being pulled off the course, but not before the Hilltoppers demonstrated their remarkable depth with a dominating 1-2-3-4-6-11-13 finish to win with a remarkable 16 points – only one point off a perfect score! Runner up Academy was the only other team with 5 across the line (45 points) when the race was called off. Elizabeth Buck earned her 2nd overall win of the season, followed closely by 8th grader Alexandra Solomon, Cara Gauss, Caterina Mereghetti, Esther Gellis, Gianna Rolfe, and 8th grader Reese Hill. Both Alexandra and Reese were fresh off the State Champion LAMS middle school team and they jumped right in and made an immediate impact.
The JV Boys scored their first win of the season, with 41 points to Cleveland’s 56 points and AA’s 62 points. Due to time constraints resulting from the lightning delay, the JV and Varsity Boys ran in the same race, although they were scored separately. Leading the charge were Hiro Mertes (2nd), Tyven Beaux (7th), William Anderson (8th), Sam Prada (10th), Garrison Sison (14th), Justin Crane (18th), and Ethan Martinez (26th).
Next up, the Hilltoppers host their District Championship on the same course on Friday afternoon, Oct. 31. The postponed Elementary School Mile will be run in conjunction with this meet. The State Championship will be held on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Albuquerque Academy.
Eric Brown digs deep to outsprint a Santa Fe Prep runner at the finish line of the JV race. Photo by Blake Wood
Cara Gauss and Alexandra Solomon finished 3rd and 2nd, respectively in the Girls JV race. Photo by Blake Wood