Lady Wildcat has fun winning at Shiprock

SHIPROCK

Alisia Honyumptewa is just a girl who wants to have fun.

A junior at Chinle High School, Honyumptewa took a laid-back approach at the Shiprock Chieftain Cross-Country Invitational that led to a first-place finish in a time of 19:10.4.

Honyumptewa said it was all part of her plan.

“My whole focus was basically just to have fun,” she said. “In the beginning I was like, ‘Oh, well, if I come in dead last, if I fall, if I get injured at least I had fun doing it.’”

She had a solid start, sharing the lead with Shiprock runner Khadija Lapahie, who finished fourth. The two shared the lead for about a mile before Honyumptewa broke free.

“In the beginning the girl beside me she was pushing it, pushing it with me, so I thought, ‘If I can pace it with her going up the hill I’ll be able to bring up my time,’” Honyumptewa said. “Right when we go to the second hill she slowed down, so I thought, ‘OK, I lost my rabbit – just keep going, push it, stay at the same pace.’”

And she did.

Honyumptewa said the course had few more hills than what she was used to, which made for an easy race.

“It was fun, especially going up the hill,” she said. “We’ve been working on the hills a lot.”

As Honyumptewa entered the stadium and around the track in the final leg of the race, Pinon junior Precious Robinson stayed close behind her.

Honyumptewa said she was familiar with Robinson but instead of worrying about the proximity she used it to her advantage.

“I raced against her before,” Honyumptewa said. “She’s very good, she’s come a long way. I’m fairly proud of her because before the sophomore year she was in the middle pack but now she’s getting up there.

“I wasn’t too worried about her,” she said. “I was just like, ‘if she’s going to push, I’m going to push myself as well.’”

Robinson said she just couldn’t catch Honyumptewa.

“Someone was saying, ‘You’re only 10 second behind her,’ but 10 seconds is a lot,” Robinson said. “I think if I started faster I probably could have stayed with her. I just made sure I could see her.”

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