Laguna Acoma junior eyeing three-peat in distance races at state

REHOBOTH, N.M.

Laguna Acoma junior Tagoya Pedro has laid the groundwork in becoming one of LA’s all-time greats in distance running.

Pedro has seven state crowns under his belt, including six in track and field. The Laguna Acoma phenom is looking for a three-peat at this week’s New Mexico Class 2A state track meet as he is looking to defend his state crown in the 800, 1600 and 3200. The two-day state track meet starts on Friday, and it will be held at UNM Track and Soccer Complex in Albuquerque.

“Oh, man, I have some big expectations,” Pedro said at last week’s District 1-2A meet that was held at Rehoboth Christian High School. “I’m praying that I can do what I did the last two years. I know there’s a big target on my back, but I just got to keep pushing and do the best that I can.

“I’m going to try and put in some good reps (this) week and get mentally prepared for state,” he added.

At the district meet, Pedro placed first in the 800 (2:07.29), 3200 (9:54.66), 4×100 (48.19) and 4×400 (3:45.30).

Of those events, he shattered his previous best in the two-mile race by over 14 seconds.

“The first mile was quick, and I came through at 4:50,” Pedro said. “I was trying for a negative split, but I think I need to work a little more on my stamina. For that last mile, I kind of fell off and I ran a 5:04 but it’s a big PR.

“I finally broke 10,” he continued. “I’ve been chasing that for a longest time.”

In the 4×100, Pedro ran the last leg, which consisted of teammates seniors Sheldon Cheromiah, Derek Victorino and junior Ekahi Tiller.

The Hawks outlasted Hózhó Academy for the win as the Wolves finished nearly three-tenths of a second behind at 48.46.

In the 4×400, LA cruised to the win as Hózhó came in a distant second at 3:50.56, which was five seconds behind the Hawks.

In that relay race, senior Xavier Lorenzo opened the first leg trailing behind Hózhó and Rehoboth Christian.

“I started to pick it up in the back stretch, but I felt like I could have done better,” Lorenzo said. “I didn’t slow down too much, but like I said I could have done a little better. But overall, I got my teammate in good position to where he could catch up.”

Cheromiah ran the second leg, and he made some ground with the runners in front of him. He managed to get ahead of Rehoboth’s second runner as the Hawks trailed Hózhó.

“For my part, all I wanted to do was execute and do what I can for the team,” Cheromiah said. “I wasn’t too far from the first-place guy, so I knew I had this thing bagged in my head.

“You know, our first guy (Lorenzo) started us off nice,” he added. “I just wanted to keep that energy as soon as he passed it off to me.”

Sophomore Carter Patricio came up next and he momentarily gave LA the lead before Hózhó’s runner passed him.

“He overtook me in that last curve,” Patricio said. “I tried to stay with him, and I tried to kick it in for that last 200. I made some ground at the 100. It was hard because I just got done running the open 800 and the medley.”

In scintillating fashion, Pedro put on the afterburners with 300 meters to go that secured the win for LA.

“My teammates set me up pretty good,” Pedro said as Hózhó finished five second back. “They all did good. Going into the last lap they kept the gap pretty close and not too far. I kicked it about 300 meters to go, and I just kind of pushed it from there.

“It was a little windy in the back end,” he added.

The 4×400 state qualification is Lorenzo’s first and he’s looking forward to seeing what his team can do.

“This is a big deal for me with it being my last year,” Lorenzo said. “We’re pretty solid with this 4×400 team and I can’t wait for state.”

For Patricio, he also qualified in the 800 as he took second at the district meet behind Pedro. During the race, Pedro encouraged Patricio to finish strong as the two LA runners finished with times of 2:07.34 and 2:07.29, respectively.

“He’s a pretty good teammate and he tries to encourage all of us,” Patricio said of Pedro. “He was trying to get me to that spot for state and he did. He really helped me out a lot.”

Cheromiah is qualified in several events as he made the state qualification standards in the triple jump, 400, sprint medley, 4×100 and 4×400.

I have a lot on my plate for state, but I want to take that first spot on the podium for the 400,” Cheromiah said. “I don’t want anyone to pass me, and I don’t want anyone to get ahead of me. I just want to do me. I know that I can do well, and I know that I can achieve that goal.”

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