N.M. 3A boys: Tohatchi’s Dauphinais finishes as reserve champion

ALBUQUERQUE – Tohatchi senior Briley Dauphinais closed out his prep cross country career with another state medal.

Dauphinais finished as the reserve state champion at the New Mexico Class 3A state meet on Saturday.

The three-year varsity runner finished behind state champion Landen Sandoval of Santa Fe St. Michael’s as the freshman won the 5K race at the Albuquerque Academy campus in a time of 16:01.04.

Dauphinais finished roughly 12 seconds back at 16:13.26.

“I did good,” the Tohatchi harrier said, while noting that he lost to the St. Michael’s runner for the second time this season.

Three weeks prior, Sandoval had beaten Dauphinais during the Academy Extravaganza.

“I tried to take to take off faster because at the Academy meet I kind of held back,” Dauphinais said. “I tried to take it out fast to kind of run the legs out of him.”

The pace he sought worked, but by the time he reached the second mile Sandoval worked his way to the front of the pack. And for the last mile, the two runners battled it out until Sandoval outkicked Dauphinais with 800 meters left.

“He started his move and I sort of faded from him,” Dauphinais said.

After not running his freshman year, the Tohatchi runner said he was pleased to have collected his third state medal. Last year he placed fourth and in his sophomore season he took eighth.

“I’m happy with what I accomplished,” Dauphinais said. “I had a lot of fun running for my school.”

The Tohatchi senior was one of six area athletes that made the all-state team at the 3A level with the New Mexico Activities Association recognizing the top 10 runners.

At fifth place, Thoreau senior Ian Silversmith was area’s next top placer. Silversmith hit a new PR on the state course as he ran a 16:38.21.

During the Extravaganza last month, Silversmith turned in a 17:31.24.

“The course was pretty hard, but I ran my hardest,” said Silversmith, who ran with a pair of $16 shoes that his mother scrambled to get on Saturday morning after leaving his running shoes at home.

The Thoreau harrier said he stayed with the lead pack for the first mile and after the second mile he maintained his fifth-place slot for the remainder of the race.

“This was my last year running cross country, so I just tried to keep up with them,” he said. “This is a good way to finish out my senior year.”

Tohatchi senior Jared Peterson took sixth, completing the course in 16:51.02 as he also stayed with the lead pack early in the race.

“That was something I had planned to do at the start of the race,” Peterson said. “I felt good at the start but at the very end I started to get tired.”

Peterson said this was his best finish at the state meet, as he earned his first podium appearance.

“It feels good that I got top 10,” Peterson said. “I’m happy that I got a medal.”

Behind the two-all state runners, Tohatchi finished fifth in the team standings with 143 points. Zuni (see separate story) won the 3A state championship team title with 68 points followed by Santa Fe Indian School (78), Navajo Prep (82) and Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical (128).

Besides Tohatchi, Navajo Prep also landed two runners on the all-state team with sophomore Mac Cousens outlasting freshman teammate Elijah England at the finish line for eighth place.

Cousens completed the race in 16:53.02 while England crossed the finish line in 16:54.77.

Cousens said he was pleased to have led Navajo Prep after finishing behind England all season long.

“I spent a lot of time working my butt off to get to where I’m at,” Cousens said. “You know, (Elijah) gave me something to fight for. I’m grateful because without him I wouldn’t have such a big push to better myself. Having him there gave me a reason to run faster.”

Cousens improved his PR, as he ran a 17:35.81 during the pre-state meet last month.

As for the third-place finish, Cousens said it took a team effort to snuff out that green trophy.

“I feel like it symbolizes how hard we’ve worked,” he said. “We could have pushed further, but I’m proud of everyone on the team. It gives us something to work for next season.”

Zuni sophomore Deron Lastyano rounded out the all-state team with a 10th place finish. On Saturday, he completed his race in 17:00.01.

“I’m not too satisfied with that, but it’s also not too bad,” the Zuni runner said.

This was his second time medaling at state as he took seventh last year, improving his PR by nearly seven seconds.

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