Navajo Prep, Ganado harriers shine
with dominant wins

CHINLE

With two weeks into the fall prep cross-country season, Navajo Prep junior Elijah England and Ganado senior Damira Allen have established themselves as early-season favorites.

The two runners posted dominate wins at Saturday’s Canyon de Chelly Invitational.

England ran a sub-16 on the 5K course under cloudy conditions as he won the varsity boys race by 56 seconds at the Chinle High hosted meet. The Navajo Prep harrier got off to a fast start and never looked back, winning the race in 15:41.51 with Page freshman Max Martin taking second at 16:37.33.

“I just trusted the process of the work I put in during the summer,” England said of his motivation to win his race in dominant fashion.

And although the overcast skies provided some relief for several runners, England says he’d rather compete while the sun is out.

“The conditions were good, but I think I run better in the heat,” the Navajo Prep harrier said.

As for the varsity girls race, the conditions were starkly different as the sun’s heat beat down on the runners. Nonetheless, some spectators along the running trail were on hand to spray water on the runners as they went by.

“It was pretty hot, but we did get some clouds and a little bit of rain,” Allen said.

Despite the conditions, Allen posted a season-best of 20:31.70 as she beat out Chinle’s Isabell Martin for the crown as the Wildcat freshman clocked in at 20:58.49.

“I’ve been trying to better my times because I’ve been running 21s and 22s,” said Allen, who captured the Rick Baker Invitational earlier this year.

Compared to the other courses she’s run this year, the Ganado runner says the Chinle meet has some unique features, which includes a water pit.

“This course is really nice, and I like running up the hills, so it’s really tough,” said Allen, who skipped running through the water pit.

Isabell Martin also avoided the pit, but she likes that it’s featured.

“I love our home course,” the Chinle harrier said. “It’s a very challenging course. It has a lot of hills and we do have the water pit and it’s a lot of fun, but I didn’t run through it.”

As for her performance, Isabell was pleased that she came in second behind Damira, who has a lot of running experience.

“I’m very happy with what I did,” Isabell said. “I think my parents are happy with me as well. I’m glad that my family and my community got to see me race.”

With a time of 21:32.17, Tohatchi’s Catherine Denetclaw placed third ahead of Hopi’s Brook Huma (22:20.22) and St. Michael senior Leonna Slim (22:26.98).

“I feel like I pushed myself to run faster, but I had trouble because my stomach made me feel nauseous at the top of the hill during the last stretch,” Denetclaw said. “That happened near the end, and I just got tired.”

Ganado’s Jasah McIntosh headed the next five with sixth-place finish of 22:30.78. She finished ahead of Piñon’s Nicole Bitsui (22:34.07), Tohatchi’s Kaylee Mitchell (22:41.56) and Chinle runners Qiyanna Tsosie (2:47.45) and Kaitlyn Bia (22:59.11).

In the team standing, Chinle had five runners finish in the top 15 for a first-place finish of 29 points. Ganado came in second at 46 followed by Hopi (66) and Navajo Prep (81).

Chinle was paced by its top three finishers. They also received a 12th place effort from Makasia Etsitty and a 15th place showing from senior Elayah Pete.

“I’m so happy and I’m very proud of my teammates,” Isabell said. “They improved since the summer and so I’m very proud of them.”

Boys

The Page Sand Devils displayed its depth despite missing three key runners, including elite harrier Symond Martin, who was on a recruiting trip with nationally ranked Northern Arizona on Saturday.

The Page boys finished with a team score of 39 points as the Sand Devils placed three runners in the top 10 with Max Martin taking second while junior Nyall Prather and senior Desmond Goldtooth taking third and ninth, respectively. To complete the team score, Page had senior Brydan Bennett and sophomore Justin Rivers earning 12th and 13th-place honors.

“We’re missing three guys, but we’re pretty deep,” Page coach Tim Martin said. “Symond is at NAU, and we have two varsity guys, Maximus (Reid) and Jaiden (Jordan) who are nursing injuries, so we pulled up some JV guys.

“They’re running well and, you know, the guys put in a great summer, and it shows,” he added.

With his older brother on a recruiting trip and his ailing teammates on the mend, Max Martin took it upon himself to lead the Sand Devil team as he’s been running third, fourth for the early part of the season.

“I really look up to Symond because me and him push each other,” Max Martin said. “He wasn’t here today, and we had other guys missing, so I tried to lead the team.

“We did good today, and we all stuck together,” he added.

With 72 points, Hopi edged Navajo Prep for second-place honors in the team standings as the Farmington-based school finished with 74 points. Chinle finished fourth with 81 points ahead of Ganado (136).

The other top 10 finishers include: Chinle’s Colten Clark (fourth), Hopi’s Kylen Antone (fifth), Chinle’s Maverick Martin (sixth), St. Michael’s Evans Tracy (seventh), Ganado’s Levi Kee (eighth) and Navajo Prep’s Tyler Begay (10th).

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