KC squads sweep Gallup meet

CHURCH ROCK, N.M. – Sweeping the boys and girls team titles is something Kirtland Central always knew they could do.

The Broncos had done that early last month at the David Charles Invitational on Sept. 6. Nearly a month had elapsed since KC completed that feat again as the Broncos swept the team titles at the 2024 Curtis Williams Gallup Invitational on Saturday.

“The main thing we work on is our pack time,” KC coach Lenny Esson said. “You don’t have to have a front runner to win races, you just have to have a good pack time.”

The Kirtland girls were the first to be crowned the meet champions with the Lady Broncos finishing with a team score of 54 points. Meet host Gallup battled Zuni for second place as the Lady Bengals finished with 82 points while Zuni settled for third place with 84 markers.

Arizona’s Chinle High placed fourth with 107 ahead of Miyamura, which finished with 109 points.

The boys team, meanwhile, finished with 57 points while 3A powerhouse Zuni took second with 71 points. Chinle placed third with 99 ahead of Miyamura (101) and Gallup (151).

Junior Haylee Nocki led the Broncos with a seventh-place finish as she clocked in at 22:22.47 on the 5K sandy course at Red Rock Park. Senior Johnaya Tyler (23:01.34) took 13th, which was one spot ahead of freshman Elizabeth Yazzie (23:02.70).

Junior Kaiden Esson (23:18.36) and sophomore Sierra Mei Tache (23:20.64) completed the team score as the two runners finished 17th and 18th, respectively.

“I think a couple of girls were kind of off today, but that’s kind of expected,” KC coach Lenny Esson said. “Each week we have a different leader, so that’s good. They all take pride into that; they’re making sure to run for one another.”

With the district meet scheduled in a couple of weeks, the KC coach says they’re still trying to identify their sixth and seventh runner.

The core of the group, however, has been running confidently.

“I wasn’t surprised with our finish,” Kaiden Esson said. “I think the team that were here really pushed us. They pushed us to be better and so I think we did very good overall.”

Tache agreed while noting the sandy portion of the race slowed the them down.

“The sand got to us, but we overcame that,” Tache said. “But I felt like we ran confident all the way through it.”

Yazzie, who was KC’s third-best runner, says the goal for each race is to finish in the top three as a team.

“We want to make podium every time,” she said. “We just focused on running our race, and not worry about our times.”

In the boys race, junior Raymond Hunt paced the Broncos as KC was without team leader Dathan Esson. Hunt placed fifth at 18:33.79.

The Broncos also received top finishes from sophomore Isaiah Dan (10th), junior Ethan Billey (11th), sophomore Devon Charley (12th) and sophomore Brayden Esson (20th).

“I’m pretty surprised that we took first,” Charley said. “Of course, our star runner wasn’t running because he’s injured but a lot of us worked together.

“We stayed together the whole time, and we were able to close in on our first and second runner,” Charley added.

Senior Lestat Johnson also had some reservations about entering the race with Lathan Esson out.

“I didn’t think we would run great with Lathan,” said Johnson, who was KC’s sixth runner as placed 28th overall. “I’m kind of surprised, but it’s all good.”

Hunt, who had to work his way up during the race, credited the team’s camaraderie for overcoming the loss of its top runner.

“I think we all did good,” Hunt said. “Everybody did their part. We all stuck together.”

KC coach Lenny Esson said he sat out Lathan, his son, as a precautionary measure.

“He picked up a little injury that is concerning enough for us to have him just wait it out,” Esson said. “We want to make sure he’s healthy for district and state. We don’t want to do more harm that’s already there, so we’re taking some precautions.”

And even though there are bigger meets to win, Esson believes the team sweep will bode well for the program.

“To see the results does give us confidence,” the KC coach said. “You can never count out Gallup and Miyamura. Window Rock and Chinle were here, too, so those were good teams that we faced.

“We just have to build on that,” he added.

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