Pace setters: Zuni boys capture Náshdóítsoh Invite with impressive finish

TOHATCHI – The 1-2-3-4 finish by the Zuni boys cross country team may have sent a message that the T-Birds mean business.

Junior Deron Lastyano led that quartet, winning the grueling 5K race at Hamburger Hill in 18:06.11 with junior teammate Jeremiah Eisenga finishing 24 seconds back at 18:30.69.

That impressive pack helped catapult the Class 3A T-Birds to a first place finish at the Náshdóítsoh Invite last week as Zuni finished with a team score of 19 points while Miyamura came in a distant second at 45 and Tohatchi third with 75.

“It caught me off guard,” longtime Zuni cross country coach Chris Carroll said of their impressive finish. “We’ve been practicing hard the last few weeks and we just ended our two-a-day practices.

“It helps to get that extra two, three miles a day in,” he added. “But like I told them, you have a target on your back and you always will. Our goal today was to go out and have fun.”

Lastyano, who comes into this season as one of the area’s top runners, kicked it into high gear near the start of the race as he put some distance between him and his teammates.

“This is a big opportunity, and it shows that I’ve improved over the past few years,” Lastyano said. “I had that mindset of pushing myself to get that No. 1 medal.

“I’m just proud of my team, especially my second place runner,” he added. “He really pushed me.”

Eisenga stayed with Zuni’s ace for a half-mile before Lastyano made his move.

“I sort of caught him, but he was just jogging,” Eisenga said of Lastyano. “We were just pushing each other in that loop, and then he started to push the pace.”

Eisenga was then followed by teammate Anthony Hustito (18:47.34) and DeShawn Soseeah (18:54.50) while Zuni’s fifth runner, Allen Dosedo placed 11th overall at 19:56.63 as the T-Birds finished with average time of 18:51.05.

As non-scoring members, the T-Birds also got a 36th place finish from Eden Bobelu and a 39th effort from Jerrick Lewis.

“This was a good start for us, but we’re gonna tell ourselves that we’re not satisfied yet,” Eisenga said. “It’s only our first meet and nobody has peaked yet, so we just gotta keep training and get after it.”

The second-place Miyamura team was paced by freshman Dustin Chatto (18:58.09) and senior Titus Skeets (18:58.39) as the two runners placed fifth and sixth, respectively.

Rehoboth Christian sophomore Jonah Jones took seventh at 19:06.76 followed by Tohatchi’s Joe Izylynvario (19:30.96) and Hózhó Academy’s Alex Yazzie (19:32.05). Miyamura freshman Chad Chatto (19:32.05) rounded out the top 10 in a race that featured 77 runners.

Last November, Zuni tied 2A powerhouse Laguna Acoma with the most state titles as both schools have won 23 state crowns. The T-Birds are looking to add to that as the Carroll-coached team entered the season as the prohibitive favorite.

“The goals that we have kind of set themselves because we’ve done well for the last few years,” Carroll said. “We’ll see where it goes from here. We just have to stay injury free, and we have to continue to work hard.”

Zuni did lose two seniors off last year’s state championship team, but the T-Birds have not lost a beat even though Carrol had some concerns entering the season.

“You know, people say we just reload, but we still have to get that confidence from the kids that have been running back there in the 50s and 60s,” Carroll said. “It’s like, hey I need you in the top 10, or I need you in the top 15.”

Based on its summer workouts, the Zuni coach believes his junior-heavy squad is more than ready to carry that mantle.

“I think the future looks bright,” Carroll said. “I’ve seen the kids’ confidence grow over the summer. It’s nice to watch the high schoolers grow up. Next year, they’re going to be seniors. We just have a good core group of young kids who have slowly been developing.”

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