Tuba City's Orman, Chinle's Jumbo dominate

The Tuba City boys and the Chinle girls' cross-country teams looked unbeatable at the 3A North Region championship in Chinle.

Led by regional champions Billy Orman of Tuba City and Rolonda Jumbo of Chinle, the Warriors and Wildcats won regional titles.

Tuba City scored an impressive 30 points.

"Our top two runners, that was mostly expected and the rest of the team, I was mostly looking at and they ran great," Tuba City coach Carlton Perry said.

"It was really a hard week," he said. "We had a couple of hard workouts. We had some bad weather blowing in and we were a little worried getting in on the last days. We had some snow flurries, but they looked ready."

The Chinle Lady Wildcats scored 21 points with all seven runners placing in the top 15.

"All our girls ran fine today," said coach Shaun Martin. "Our third place girl, our fourth and fifth place girls were awesome. Everybody ran very well.

"Our girls finished in the top 15 in region," he said. "I mean, that doesn't happen often. To win the region by as much as we did, we're pretty fine going into state this week."

All North Region state qualifiers will compete on Saturday at the Cave Creek Golf Course in north Phoenix. The 3A state boys' championship is at 1:55 p.m. and the girls' is at 3:10 p.m.

Orman, last year's state champion, got out early and never trailed on the 3.1-mile course, setting a new course record with a 16.01 time. His teammate Ryan Yazzie followed with a 16.40 time to finish second.

Last week at Holbrook, Yazzie finished ahead of Orman to win the Holbrook meet. But at Chinle, Orman said the packed course was very well.

Chinle's Jonathon Yazzie was third.

"I just ran hard and didn't give up," Yazzie said. "The last time we ran this course, I was in front of Ryan for two miles and then in the last mile, he ran right by me."

To qualify for state and compete for the team title, the top four teams at the regional are eligible with Chinle runners-up with 45 points, Ganado in third with 73 and Window Rock in fourth with 108. Holbrook was fifth with 134, followed by Winslow (158) and Monument Valley (180).

The top 15 runners also qualified for state, including Adrian Thomas of Holbrook (7th) and Shilyn Singer of Winslow (14th), Brandon Wilson of Ganado (4th), Dennis Klain (5th) and Hershel Lester (6th) of Tuba City, Nathaniel Hardy of Chinle, Monte Yazzie of Window Rock, Derrick Joey and Searle Tracy of Chinle, Timothy Borman of Ganado, Koyai Clauschee of Chinle, and Mathew Williams of Window Rock.

Girls

Like Orman, Jumbo led all the way as she finished the race in record time with a 19.10. Jumbo, last year's state champion as a freshman, was named the runner of the year.

Jumbo's teammate Charnelle Curley was runner-up to Jumbo.

"They ran well," said Martin. "Our first place girl, Rolonda broke the course record, that was one thing, then there was the big performance from our second place girl, Charnelle, who ran very, very well. She's so strong that she's a smart runner. She ran amazing today."

"It was a good race. I ran my hardest," Curley said. "It was cold but I felt better throughout the race. Knowing that you're running right behind your teammate, it was good."

In the top 15, Tuba City's April Tracey was third with a 20.59 time, followed by Deriann Yazzie in fourth, Allison Denetchee of Ganado (5th), Andrena Jim of Chinle (6th), Gabby Stacey of Winslow (7th), Stephanie Yazzie of Chinle (8th) Anjelica Bedonie of Chinle (9th), Rachel Montoya of Winslow, Yanibah Jaques of Window Rock, Mystri Jodie of Winslow, Shelbi Little of Tuba City, Tatiyanah Johnson of Tuba City and Reba Francisco of Chinle.

Following Chinle in team standings was Tuba City with 63 points, followed by Winslow (69) and Window Rock (105). All four teams qualify for the state meet.

Ganado was fifth and Monument Valley was sixth.

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