Records fall at Canyon de Chelly Invite
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Chinle senior Janessa Segay makes her way up a hill during Saturday’s Canyon de Chelly Invitational. According to meet officials, Segay set the new course record at the Chinle High-hosted meet with a winning time of 19:03.
CHINLE
It was a record-setting day at the annual Canyon de Chelly Invitational.
Three meet records were broken at the Chinle High-hosted meet on Saturday, including two in the high school varsity division.
According to meet officials, Chinle senior Janessa Segay beat the previous record by seven seconds, which was set by former Wildcat standout Rolanda Jumbo.
Segay, who has yet to lose a race this year, conquered the 5K course in 19:03.0 on a hot sunny day. Earlier this year she captured gold at the Hopi Invite and the Flagstaff Peaks Invitational.
“I’m more surprised about winning my home meet,” Segay said. “I ran a 19:03 at the finish line, and it surprised me a lot because, honestly, I thought I was going to run in 20 minutes.
“I actually PRd here with it being higher elevation and with it being a hilly course,” she added.
Led by Segay, Chinle placed five runners in the top 21 for the team title as the Wildcats finished with 52 points.
The Page Sand Devils authored the two other records with Sand Devil harrier Symond Martin shattering the previous record by 17 seconds.
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Page Sand Devil Symond Martin shattered the course record at the Canyon de Chelly Invitational on Saturday afternoon with a winning time of 15:49.9.
The junior phenom won the race in 15:49.9 as he became the only runner to be under the 16-minute mark at the Chinle meet.
“It feels really cool because I don’t have a course record yet (until today),” said Martin, who credits his offseason training for his spectacular start to the 2024 season, which includes a first-place win at Peaks Invite.
“Every race I plan on getting faster and faster,” Martin said. “We’re going down to the Valley next week and I just want to show them what I can do down there.”
The Sand Devils are entered in the Ojo Rojo X-C Invite in Chandler, Arizona, on Friday which will feature some of the top boys cross-country teams in the state.
With five runners in the top 20, the Sand Devils ran away with the team title with 33 points. Navajo Prep was a distant second with 91 while Chinle placed third with 145 markers.
In the junior high race, Page eighth grader Max Martin also set the new course record, winning the two-mile race in 10:31.8.
For complete coverage of the Canyon de Chelly Invite pick up Thursday’s Navajo Times.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow