The State Champion Hilltopper Girls and Runner-Up Boys. Photo by Blake Wood

Junior Grace Montoya and freshman Elisabeth McNiff were the 3rd and 2nd Hilltopper girls, respectively, in 7th and 6th places overall. Photo by Blake Wood

By BLAKE WOOD
Assistant Coach
LAHS Track and Field 

The Hilltopper Girls proved themselves the dominant XC program in New Mexico on Saturday, taking the Class 4A State Championship with 29 points, ahead of Albuquerque Academy’s 75 points. 

Although Academy put two of their runners ahead of the first Hilltopper, in a demonstration of the value of pack running, the ‘Toppers placed all seven of their runners ahead of Academy’s 3rd runner to wrap up the win.

In doing so, the ‘Toppers placed four runners in the top-10, earning All-State honors, and posted the fastest average time across all classifications. Leading the team was junior Ensley Jorgenson, 4th overall in an excellent time of 18:47 on Academy’s relatively flat 5k course. She was followed by freshman Elisabeth McNiff (6th, 19:08), junior Grace Montoya (7th, 19:17), senior Mila Moseley (8th, 19:23), and sophomore Emmeline Keller-Moore (13th, 20:06) to complete the scoring quintet. Junior Amelia Hill (14th) and senior Abigail Swigert (21st) rounded out the team. 

The ‘Topper Boys have been closing the gap behind Albuquerque Academy all season long. They took another piece out of that on Saturday, but not quite enough to overcome the Chargers, finishing as State Runner-Up with 56 points to AA’s 36.

Junior Kaj Maupin was the top ‘Topper with his All-State 6th place finish in a time of 16:11. Senior Gus Ovaska came on strongly in the latter stage of the race to finish in 12th place and 16:35. He was followed by sophomore Koen Christensen (13th, 16:50).  In his first time under 17 minutes, junior Emmitt Tibbetts finished in 16:55 and 15th place.  Scoring was rounded out by junior William Hudlemeyer (20th, 17:08). Freshman Oliver Mosby (27th) and senior Cole Luscher (34th) completed the team. 

Congratulations, Hilltopper Cross Country!

Sophomore Koen Christensen digs deep with a half mile to go, closely followed by senior Gus Ovaska.  The were the 3rd and 2nd ‘Topper boys, respectively, in 13th and 12th places overall. Photo by Blake Wood

Junior Ensley Jorgenson cruises along a half mile from the finish. She was the first ‘Topper girl, in 4th place overall and a time of 18:47. Photo by Blake Wood

Junior Kaj Maupin was the top ‘Topper boy with a 6th place finish overall in a time of 16:11. Photo by Blake Wood