Alamo Navajo boys look to be among best in 2A

TOHATCHI

The Alamo Navajo boys’ cross-country team looked as good as advertised.

In the first meet of the New Mexico prep cross-country season, the Cougars finished one point behind Gallup in the team standings at the Tohatchi Invitational last Friday.

Gallup won the team title with 48 points with Alamo Navajo nipping at their heels.

“I am real happy with the results,” Alamo Navajo coach Ira Pino said. “I wasn’t sure how we would do today but they surprised me.”

Senior Tyree Monte paced Alamo Navajo with a third place finish as he was clocked in at 18 minutes, 40 seconds.

The Cougars also had two runners that made the Top 10 with junior Latrell Apachito (19:31) copping fifth place honors and freshman Anthony Perry (20:07) taking eighth.

To complete the team score, Hunter Apachito (21:03) came in 15th, which was three spots ahead of teammate Robert Monte (21:21).

Alamo Navajo also had Lane Apachito (21st) and Thomas Apachito (32nd) competed in the 5K-race as the teams’ sixth and seventh runners. 

Pino acknowledged that it’s still early but with the way his team performed he’s looking forward to the upcoming season.

“We have a long way to go but I’m feeling confident because Gallup is a 5A school,” he said. “We were right there with them.”

Last year, the Cougars placed second in the Class 2A state cross-country meet. They finished behind Mesa Vista and ahead of Navajo Pine.

Mesa Vista returns all but one runner from that state championship team so Pino said they have their work cut out for them if they want to dethrone the defending state champs.

“We have to put in the miles and we have to do a lot of speed work,” he said. “We just need to work harder than the other teams.”

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