Navajo Pine boys poised to make a run

TOHATCHI

In the last two years, the Navajo Pine boys’ cross-country team has found its equal.

Last Friday, the Warriors renewed their rivalry with Alamo Navajo at the Tohatchi Invitational with Alamo Navajo losing the team title by a mere point to Class 5A Gallup as the Bengals finished with 48 points.

Navajo Pine came in a close third with 60 points headed by the 1-2 finish from sophomore runners Michael Marshall and Galvin Curley.

“We saw some good competition,” said Navajo Pine athletic director Sean Manuelito, who was filling in for head coach Kyleigh Thompson. 

While opting out of this meet last season, Manuelito said they scheduled the Tohatchi Invitational as a way to measure themselves against some of the smaller programs early in the season.

“We really wanted to see how we did in our classification,” he said. “This was the first meet of the year and we looked pretty decent.”

As for its rival, Manuelito said they’ll see Alamo Navajo for the next three meets and he expects those meetings to be a battle.

In last Friday’s meet, the Warriors looked good with Marshall and Curley taking up the top two spots with Marshall winning it with a time of 18 minutes, 23 seconds.

“It was a pretty good, hard race,” Marshall said. “I forced it through, kept my pace but the hills are easy. We do it every day in practice.”

Last season, Marshall finished third in the 2A state cross-country meet. He followed up his freshman year with a second-place finish in the 3200-meter run and a third place showing in the 1600-meter race. He said placing that high at both state meets serves as motivation heading into this season.

“I’m trying hard every day to push myself,” he said.

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