Best of the best: Page senior Symond Martin captures Brooks XC West Region race

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK – Among a deep field of elite runners, Page senior Symond Martin netted the individual crown at the Brooks XC West Regional Championships at the Mt. Sac XC course in Walnut, California.

Martin toured the 5K course in 15:18.9 as he beat out Fresno Christian harrier Blake Bay by three seconds for the title on Saturday.

“This is definitely biggest races that I’ve won,” said Martin, who is going to run collegiately for the NAU men’s cross country team next fall. “When I crossed the finish line, it didn’t really hit me until after we received our awards. I was like, ‘Wow, I actually won this race.’”

By virtue of finishing in the top 10 at this regional qualifier, Martin earned his spot to compete at the Brooks XC Championships, which is scheduled for Saturday at Balboa Park in San Diego. The girls championship race is slated for 9:15 a.m. (PT) followed by the boys at 10 a.m.

“Winning this race definitely boosted my confidence,” Martin said. “I’m going into the national race with a lot of confidence. I know I can compete with pretty much all the guys that are there.

“I’m going in there where nobody knowing me, so I’m gonna show them who I am,” he added.

According to the Brooks XC Championships, Martin posted the third fastest time in 20 years at the West Region meet. He is also the first Arizona West Region Champion since Tuba City’s Billy Orman and Sinagua’s Brian Shrader won it in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010.

“I believe Symond is the fourth Navajo to win this race,” his dad, Tim Martin said. “His uncle, Theo, won it back in 1992 and he was probably the first Navajo to win it.”

It took a quarter-century for Kirtland Central great Kashon Harrison to carry that mantle as he won it in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018 before he finished out his collegiate career running for the University of Colorado.

On Saturday, the younger Martin added his name to this elite group of Diné runners.

“It’s an amazing feeling because not many Arizona guys or Native guys have won this race,” Symond said. “I’m one of a select few that have won it and have made it to nationals.”

Last month, Symond won his first state cross country crown during the Arizona Division III state meet at the Cave Creek Golf Course in north Phoenix on Nov. 15. The following week, he competed in the Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Regional as he finished 37th overall in the championship race.

“I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed, but I definitely knew that I could have done a lot better,” Symond said of his results at the Nike regional meet.

With that, the Page runner altered his training regimen for the Brooks XC West Regional Championships. With his father’s coaching, Symond focused on increasing his mileage and doing longer workouts.

“After Nike, we didn’t rest as much, and we didn’t taper,” Symond said. “I mean, we got back at it, and we started doing more miles than we did the week before Nike. We did harder workouts and that helped me get my body get ready for the (Mt. Sac XC) course.”

In Saturday’s race, Symond stayed with the lead pack in the opening mile and by the time they reached the second mile he says the field started to thin out.

“It started to look like there was a distinct pack,” he said. “And as soon as we got to the second hill there were only four, five guys that I was racing with.”

Going into that last mile, Symond made a strategic move to take over the lead on the final hill as his peers could not match his kick en route to his championship win.

“I just hammered it down to put myself in the leading spot and with 400 meters to go I put on a little surge and nobody else could really catch me after that,” he said. “That last mile was definitely a mental challenge along with the physical challenge.”
The elder Martin says his son ran a smart race and he credits the regimen changes they made leading up to the regional meet.

“We readjusted some things that didn’t work at Nike,” Tim said. “I mean, he didn’t pop like we wanted him to pop at Nike, so we went back and looked at what worked well, and we implemented some of those changes to this race and everything was perfect.”

Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.

 

---