ROY selections include four state champs

WINDOW ROCK – It was a record-setting year for Chinle senior Janessa Segay.

The Chinle harrier established several personal records throughout the 2024 season as she was named the Times’ Female Runner of the Year. She shares that honor with Miyamura’s Kylie Montano and Whitehorse’s Keiarra Martin.

Navajo Prep’s Elijah England, Laguna Acoma’s Tagoya Pedro, Valley Lutheran’s Benjamin Benally and Page’s Symond Martin were tabbed the boys ROY while four coaches received COY, and they include Hopi’s Rick Baker, Shiprock’s Alice Kinlichee, Page’s Tim Martin and Navajo Prep’s Stephanie Coon.

Girls

At the Arizona Division III Cross-Country State Championships, Segay captured her first state title by setting a new PR of 18:49.2 on the state meet course at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix.

She bested last years’ state meet time by 1:37, as Segay is the third female to win a state crown for Chinle.

“Being a state champion is what I always wanted, and it feels good to finally do it,” Segay told the Navajo Times. “It feels good because I wanted to show the rest of the state what rez kids can do. It shows that we can show out and do really good.”

In Utah, Martin placed fourth at the Utah 1A State Cross-Country Championships, covering the 5K course at Salt Lake City’s Sugarhouse Park in 20:02.9.

Montano took fifth at the New Mexico Class 4A State Cross-Country Championships at Albuquerque Academy. Montano crossed the finish line with a time of 19:01.5, which was 11th best among all the state qualifiers regardless of class.

Boys

Two state champions emerged from the New Mexico state meet with England and Tagoya winning their first state crowns.

England won the Class 3A state title in 16:08.9, becoming Navajo Prep’s first individual state champion in said sport.

The Navajo Prep sophomore beat state runner-up Quin Dry of Santa Fe Prep by 14 seconds.

“No one has really beaten me with my kick,” said England, who added that he “perfected it” during the offseason after his freshman year.

“I already know to not let anyone beat me with my kick,” England said. “I had that mindset, and I just kicked in there at the end.”

In the Class A-2A meet, Tagoya blew his peers out of the water by crossing the finish line in 15:50.8, which was 11th best among the four boys race during that all-day state meet.

“This means so much to me,” said Pedro, who finished second at the state meet the past two years. “I’ve been working at this for so long. I feel like every bit of training I put into this has come into play, especially for this meet.”

In Arizona, Benally emerged as the state champion in the Division IV race as he outkicked Chandler Preparatory’s Josef Iker for his first state crown.

Benally, who has roots in the Shiprock area, was clocked in at 16:22.8, coming nearly 10 seconds ahead of Iker.

“I’ve been preparing for this, basically since the season started,” Benally said. “I’ve been just working slowly, trying to do my best to PR and get mentally stronger.”

In the Division III race, Symond Martin finished as the state runner-up, but he pushed eventual state champion Bryson Nielsen of Eastmark High for the entire race.

Nielson won the race in 15:37.5 with Martin clocking in at 15:39.9.

COY

Buoyed by six runners finishing in the top 27, the Navajo Prep boys won the Class 3A state title under the guidance of Coon.

Navajo Prep and Santa Fe St. Michael’s finished with identical 61 points after five runners scored as the tie-breaker was enforced with Navajo Prep sixth runner Brian Brandser placing 27th, while St. Michael’s sixth runner, Joseph Rodriquez, took 47th.

“It was close,” Coon said. “I don’t think we were the favorite to win it. I think they were looking at another team, but these guys were hungry.

“They were hungry when we started the preseason, and this is what they wanted.” he added. “This is what they talked about all season.”

Page secured the Arizona Division III state crown under Tim Martin. The Sand Devils scored 101 points and beat American Leadership Academy-Queen Creek for the first time this season as the latter team finished with 105.

“They’ve been beating us the whole year,” Tim Martin said. “Of course, they had the faster times, and they’re hungry and they’re all seniors. But, you know, we’re hungry every year.”

The Hopi girls earned a spot on the podium with a second-place finish in Division IV state meet under the leadership of Baker.

The Lady Bruins finished with a team score of 78 points, and trailed state champs Northland Prep by 17 points.

In New Mexico, the Shiprock Lady Chieftains took third in the 4A team standings with 115 points behind state powerhouses Albuquerque Academy (49) and Los Alamos (62) under the tutelage of longtime coach Kinlichee.

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