Kirtland Central High boys’ cross-country team brings home first place trophy

Kirtland Central High boys’ cross-country team brings home first place trophy
Navajo Times | Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi Kirtland Central High School sophomore Kashon Harrison nears the finish line during the 2016 Totah Invitational hosted by Piedra Vista High School. Harrison finished first in a time of 16:03.52 and led his team to their first team victory of the season.

Navajo Times | Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
Kirtland Central High School sophomore Kashon Harrison nears the finish line during the 2016 Totah Invitational hosted by Piedra Vista High School. Harrison finished first in a time of 16:03.52 and led his team to their first team victory of the season.

FARMINGTON

The Kirtland Central High School boys’ cross-country team finally got it right.

Since the season began, the team has been looking for the right combination to bring home a first place team trophy and last weekend they did just that.

They placed first with a combined score of 45 points at the 2016 Totah Invitational hosted by Piedra Vista High School.

Kirtland Central head coach Lenny Esson said the key was to finding a compatible top five.

“We’re trying to find a fifth runner right now,” he said. “One through four, we’ve been pretty consistent, but as for the fifth runner—we’ve had a different runner each week.”
This week Hyrum Yazzie helped the team close in on the win as the team’s fifth runner.

The Broncos were led by Kashon Harrison, who finished in first place with a time of 16:03.52. Koby Blackwater finished third overall and Jacob Hawkins came in sixth in a time of 17:34.65. Osean Nez finished 13th in 18:07.11 and Yazzie came in 22nd place with a time of 18:40.09.

Esson said Harrison led the team well but he almost didn’t run in the meet.

He said he and Harrison talked about sitting him out just to make sure that he is racing smart.

Esson said keeping Harrison in mind for each race is also keeping the team in mind.

“We’re trying to be selective in how to race him over the course of eight meets. He put in more miles last week and he was able to work himself a little bit more each day,” said Esson. “But at the same time, we’re trying to focus on the team this year.”

Navajo Preparatory School boys’ team finished in second with 62 points and Aztec in third with 71 points.

Navajo Times | Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi Window Rock High School’s Chamique DuBoise makes her way along the course during the 2016 Totah Invitational hosted by Piedra Vista High School last Friday. DuBoise finished first in a time of 19:58.56 and led her team to a first-place finish.

Navajo Times | Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
Window Rock High School’s Chamique DuBoise makes her way along the course during the 2016 Totah Invitational hosted by Piedra Vista High School last Friday. DuBoise finished first in a time of 19:58.56 and led her team to a first-place finish.

On the girls’ end, the Window Rock Lady Scouts won their second-consecutive title with a combined score of 44 points.

Window Rock had their turning point of the season when they picked up their first team win last weekend in Shiprock. They are now running on that momentum.

Window Rock head coach Stephen Fabina said like last week his team had a good week of training and it paid off, and this week was not that much different.

“We pushed them hard again this week in practice and it looks like they are responding well,” he said. “I think it starts with the training and the kids really focused in last week with the training, and I think it really carried over this week and we got another good week of training.”


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About The Author

Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi

Sunnie Clahchischiligi has been the sports writer for the Navajo Times since 2008. She has a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the University of New Mexico. Before joining the Times, she worked at the St. Cloud Times (Minn.), the Albuquerque Journal, the Santa Fe New Mexican, Sports Illustrated Magazine in New York City and the Salt Lake Tribune. She can be reached at sunnie@navajotimes.com or via cell at (505) 686-0769.

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