Flagstaff’s Taylor Biggambler, Laguna Acoma’s Mia Smith selected as runner-of-the-year recipients

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Dec 18, 2025 | Track & Field |

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

(Editor’s Note: The all-stars for football, soccer and volleyball will be released in next week’s issue.)

WINDOW ROCK – An individual state championship pushed Flagstaff harrier Taylor Biggambler above the competition in determining this year’s runner of the year.

She shares that honor with Laguna Acoma junior Mia Smith, who was the area’s top finisher at the New Mexico state cross country meet.

Biggambler captured her first individual state crown, winning the Division II title in mid-November at the Arizona Interscholastic Association state cross country meet. Prior to this year’s state title, Biggambler placed second her junior year and third her freshman season.

Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Laguna Acoma junior Mia Smith starts fast during the New Mexico Class A-2A state cross country meet on Saturday, Nov. 8. Smith finished as the state runner-up and that helped earned her the Times’ Runner-of-the-Year award.

“It’s really emotional that I got to win it today, especially with it being my senior year, so this is really special for me,” Biggambler told the Navajo Times.

The four-year varsity runner covered the state meet course in 18:44.8 at the Cave Creek Golf Course in north Phoenix. She won this year’s race by a large margin with state runner-up finishing 40 seconds back.

“Coming into this race, it was just fixing my mental game and just trying to gain that confidence,” Biggambler said.

That confidence building took some time as the Diné runner worked on that concept after last year’s state cross country meet. She continued to refine her mental outlook through last spring’s track season when she earned two state medals.

“It didn’t happen overnight,” Biggambler said of her confidence building. “It took like a whole year, and it definitely worked in my (junior) track season. I had really good confidence coming into this season and today’s win reflected off of that.”

In New Mexico, Smith was the Class A-2A state runner-up as she finished 12 seconds behind three-time state champ Olivia Marquez of Albuquerque’s Oak Grove Classical.

“I went out there with a strong mindset,” Smith said of her race preparedness. “I was going to try and pace with Olivia, the top runner, and I ended up doing that. I just came a few seconds short.”

Smith finished with a time of 20:18.2 as she stayed on the heels of Marquez for much of the race.

“Being a few seconds short of Olivia, I felt like I could do it,” she said. “But coming up that (last) little hill, I could have pushed it more and maybe I would have stayed with her on the track but I’m very proud of what I done.”

Under head coach Manuelito McReeves, the Miyamura Lady Patriots earned the third-place trophy in Class 4A. The Patriots tallied 100 points and finished with state powerhouses Los Alamos and Albuquerque Academy going 1-2.

Miyamura finished with a split time of 1:30 between its first and fifth runner.

“We knew that everyone was chasing us for third,” said McReeves, who was tabbed the coach of the year. “The girls ran a good race, and they pulled through. They did an outstanding job and I’m just so proud of them.”

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