Five area harriers tabbed ROY

(Editor’s note: The Navajo Times football, volleyball and soccer all-stars will be released in next week’s issue.)

WINDOW ROCK – Eighth-grader Keiarra Martin had an impressive debut season running for the Whitehorse High School girls varsity cross country team.

The 14 year-old won seven of her nine races this past year as she was named the Times’ Runner of the Year, an honor she shares with Ganado’s Damira Allen and Piedra Vista’s Nicole Pierce.

New Mexico Class 2A state champion Lucas Williams was tabbed the boys ROY along with Page harrier Symond Martin.

The Times would like to honor Ganado’s Elaina Vann, Page’s Tim Martin, Gallup’s Kyle Benally and Zuni’s Chris Carroll for being named coach of the year.

Girls

At the Utah 1A state cross country meet on Oct. 24, Martin placed second among 72 runners as she completed the 5K course at Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City in 19:30.30.

Martin’s placement is the highest finish that a Whitehorse athlete has ever made at a state meet. A few weeks prior, she had set a new course record at the John Thornton Invite in Blanding, Utah, with a winning time of 20:03.

At the Arizona Division III state meet, Ganado’s Allen was bidding to become the school’s first individual state champion in girls cross country.

In a photo finish, the Ganado sophomore lost the state crown by milliseconds as she came up short to Gilbert Christian’s Mila Russo at the finish line at the Cave Creek Golf Course on Nov. 4.

Russo cut the tape at 19:32.3 and Allen clocked in at 19:32.4.

In New Mexico, Piedra Vista’s Pierce took third in the Class 5A state meet with a time of 19:16.22 as she bettered her time on the state meet course by 46 seconds, which was held at Albuquerque Academy campus on Nov. 11.

Boys

At the New Mexico Class A-2A state meet, Laguna Acoma’s Williams set the pace early and won his first state crown by clocking in at 16:18.92.

Williams beat out teammate Tagoya Pedro as the two LA runners finished 1-2 during the small school state meet. Last spring, Williams finished second to Pedro in the long distance races (800-, 1600- and 3200-meters) at the 2023 2A state track meet.

In Arizona, Page’s Symond Martin came within 2.1 seconds of winning the Division III state crown. In the final 800 meters, Martin made up some ground on Seton Catholic’s Zach Albanese but he fell short at the finish line.

Albanese won the state crown with a time of 16:14.9 while Martin clocked in at 16:17.

COY

Under the direction of Tim Martin, the Page boys team put across five runners in the top 50 to win this past year’s Division III state crown.

The Sand Devil team accomplished that feat behind a bevy of underclassmen as Page won its 19th state cross country crown, which is the school’s 30th overall for boys and girls cross country.

In the girls race, the Ganado Lady Hornets placed third with 143 points behind state champs American Leadership Academy-Queen Creek (91) and state runner-up Gilbert Christian (98), with Vann coaching the team in her first season.

In New Mexico, the Zuni boys team tied Laguna Acoma with the most state titles as both squads have won 23 each.

Under Carroll, Zuni won its latest title by placing five scoring members in the top 20 for the Class 3A crown for a team score of 68 points.

The Gallup Bengals experienced a resurgence with Benally under the helm as the girls and boys team collected two three-place trophies.

The Gallup boys tallied 85 points while the girls racked up 105 points.

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