Diminished Winslow XC team misses cut for state

By Candace Begody
Special to the Times

PHOENIX

The Winslow and Holbrook cross-country programs capped the season competing in the Division III North meet last week.

At this meet the Winslow boys and girls team placed sixth overall, missing the cut for an invitation to today’s state meet.

Holbrook, meanwhile, did not have enough runners to field a team.

The Winslow boys were fueled by the following scoring runners: junior Payton Nicholas (19th place) finishing in 18:04.5; junior Kailar Charley (21st) in 18:15.4; sophomore Kaileb Begay (35th) in 19:09.1; senior Noral Cooper (45th) in 20:13.8; and senior Austin Dickson (51st) in 20:37.9

“We started off sluggish,” said Wilburt Barton, Winslow’s head cross country coach. “Winslow High School would look forward to having kids from the reservation, but coming back from the five-month break, there was a lack of motivation.

“It was tough to see so we just had to start with the basic training. We had to take baby steps to begin with,” he added. “We were out of sync but started introducing them to team bonding and we started to slowly get there.”

Barton said Winslow generally relies on athletes from the surrounding reservation communities, typically with about 30 on the boys’ side and 10 on the girls’ side, but due to the COVID pandemic, most Native students opted out. “We did have some kids that we had to recruit from band,” Barton said.

And for those who were able to continue to run at Winslow High, “We also had to work with the surrounding areas to make sure they had a place to stay, which made morning practice easier.”

Barton said they have had to rely on junior Peyton Nicholas for the leadership.

“We were grateful to have him,” Barton said. “One thing he had to teach bring was leadership. He had to keep the team going especially during a time like this. It is hard to talk to the news guys that came out because I think they would rather hear from someone who has been part of the program from a couple years. I am glad he had the experience to lead the team in this race.”

Winslow entered the sectional meet ranked 25th in the state.

“That brought us some motivation,” Barton added. “One thing I love about these boys is they get hungry. They look for something to motivate them. Every team’s goal is to make it to state and that is what we (were) looking forward to.”

In the girls’ race, Winslow was paced by freshman Jaci Gonnie’s 30th place finish, followed by senior Lindsey Becenti (31st), freshman Raenna Becenti (43rd), freshman Terianne Skaggs (57th) and freshman Ashley Fuson (59th).

Holbrook

Though Holbrook could not fill a full roster of scoring runners on either the girls’ or boys’ team, Holbrook head coach Zane Morgan was happy with the individual performances nonetheless.

“I am happy with how it went,” he said. “We had a much shorter season than usual for obvious reasons. For the most part, our kids ran a season best and you can never be upset about that. Everyone ran well.”

Altogether, Holbrook brought three boys and four girls. On the boys’ side, senior Damien Clark finished 37th in 19:35.3, junior Damon Attakai finished 50th in 20:32.4, followed by freshman Kenneth Nez in 55th place in 20:54.5.

On the girls’ side, junior Abigayle Nez placed 13th, crossing the finish line in 21:36.2, freshman Raelle Yazzie finished 36th in 24:44.2, junior Talynn Spencer crossed the finish line in 44th place in 27:05.8, followed closely by sophomore Lily Hawk in 49th place in 28:32.0.

Morgan said though practice started in mid-September, there was a lack of runners.

“Some kids weren’t coming at all and for the ones who did, the school had to get a bus to get them to practice,” he said. “It has been a very different year, but I am happy with the kids who stuck it out and came out today.”

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