Volcano Vista’s Talen Riley takes silver at 5A state meet: Cleveland wins state with a pair of Native runners

ALBUQUERQUE

The frontrunners in the Class 5A boys state meet race has engaged themselves in a friendly rivalry this year.

Throughout this season, Cleveland’s Lucas Espinosa, Volcano Vista’s Talen Riley, and La Cueva’s Nikko Mihan have beaten each other.

On Saturday, they went 1-2-3 in the final cross country race of the season with Riley believing the rivalry has made them better competitors.

“This is my best finish at state, and I have to thank Lucas and Nikko,” Riley said. “They’re both really good runners, and all season I tried to hang with them.”

In Saturday’s championship race, Espinosa won the state title with a time of 15:13.7 while Riley took second at 15:43.7 and Mihan third at 15:53.7.

Prior to the state meet, Riley won the District 1-5A meet in Farmington on Nov. 1, which included runners from Rio Rancho and Cleveland, particularly Espinosa.

“I had a lot of confidence going into this meet because I took first at my district meet,” said Riley, who is half-Laguna and half-Jemez Pueblo. “I’ve been working really hard since I was a freshman and I’ve improved every single year.”

To win second, “brings me a big smile,” Riley said. “I mean, this is a big improvement from last year when I placed ninth. I was able to run faster this year compared to last year and it felt good.”

For the record, Riley ran 19 seconds faster than last year’s pace. As the team leader, he was looking to help his team to a podium finish as Volcano Vista placed fifth overall with 150 points.

“Placement-wise, I was trying to help my team get as close to podium as possible,” Riley said. “We’re a young team this year and they’re a good group. I see a lot of improvements in the upcoming years, so they got a shot.”

The state title went to Cleveland High as they beat out district rival Rio Rancho for the elusive crown. Cleveland finished with a low score of 36 points ahead of Rio Rancho (61), La Cueva (118), Los Lunas (119) and Volcano Vista.

The state championship team included a pair of Native American runners in senior Deron Begay and freshman Darius Cajero.

Begay was Cleveland’s sixth runner as he placed 18th overall with a time of 16:53.3.

“It feels really amazing,” Begay said. “This is what I’ve dreamt of, you know, becoming a state champion. I’m so proud of what I did for my team.”

Begay, who attended Holbrook and St. Michael Indian School for his first two years in high school, joined the Cleveland team his junior season. He started out on the C-team before making his way to the JV team and then the varsity squad.

“I had to work hard because there’s so much competition within our team,” the Diné runner said. “To run with this varsity group is really amazing and I’m happy that I got to do that.”

Cajero, who clocked in at 17:33.1, was equally pleased to have made the varsity team.

“It’s just the beginning for me,” said Cajero, who is Jemez Pueblo. “I feel like I’m at a good place. Like Deron said, we had to work hard to make the varsity team and for us to show out and win here is amazing.”

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