Rick Baker XC Invite: Ganado, Coconino harriers capture individual crowns

KEAMS CANYON, Ariz. – The annual Hopi High School cross-country meet has a new title.

The meet was renamed the Rick Baker XC Invite in honor of the Hall of Fame Coach who helped put Hopi on a national map by leading his Hopi High School cross-country teams to 26 consecutive state titles.

On Tuesday, roughly 300 kids competed in the varsity races with Coconino junior Mary McGinlay and Ganado senior Jayden Smith capturing the individual crowns.

Smith toured the 3.1-mile course in 16 minutes, 41.15 seconds as he beat out 150 other runners to win the area’s first cross country meet.

“It gives me a good confidence boost,” Smith said. “I’m pretty excited about this season, and I’ve been looking forward to this since last year.”

Early in the race, the Ganado harrier battled Window Rock’s Ryan Kee and Coconino’s Nicholas Wolf for the top spot. Smith started to distance himself from the other runners near the water station as Tuesday’s temperature reached the mid-90s during the race.

“From there it was just Ryan Kee and me,” Smith said. “We were running side by side but coming off that turn I finally got past him.

“I just tried to finish out the race,” he added.

Kee finished eight seconds back as he was clocked in at 16:49.33 while Wolfe faded to third at 16:57.94.

“I feel pretty good, and everything was good,” Kee said. “You know, this is the first meet, and there’s a lot more to come. I wasn’t looking to go out hard.

“I just wanted to see who goes out, and I just stayed up there in the pack,” Kee added.

In the girls’ race, McGinlay put forth a dominant performance as she won the race in 21:54.57, beating out her Panthers teammate Sara McCabe by 53 seconds.

“I’m a little bit surprised, but I’m very thankful,” McGinlay said of coming in first. “Honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to start the season. I didn’t do too much training through the summer, but I persevered and I’m looking forward to a really good season.”

McCabe was equally surprised with her top finish as she clocked in at 22:48.92.

“I really came in just wanting to beat my previous time for this course,” McCabe said. “I was kind of surprised that I was able to pull off second place.”

Her previous best time at the Hopi meet was 24:10 and she shattered that by 88 seconds.

“I’ve been running a lot more miles over the summer,” McCabe said when asked about her vast improvements. “I think I was logging in 40 to 45 miles a week.”

With her finish, the Diné runner is feeling optimistic about the rest of the season.

“It gives me a ton of confidence for the rest of the season,” she said. “I’m now curious to see what I can pull off in the next few races.”

The two Coconino runners finished ahead of Hopi senior Rylee Koopee, who turned in a third-place finish of 22:53.13.

“I kind of got sick over the weekend, so I was kind of worried about that,” Koopee said. “I wasn’t sure how I would feel today, but once we got on the line, I was ready to race.”

The meet on Tuesday featured nearly three dozen schools with the Coconino girls and Holbrook boys winning the team titles.

Holbrook scored five runners in the top 26 and finished with 76 total points.

The Roadrunners were paced by the fifth and sixth place finishes from junior Leyton Tom and senior Kenneth Nez.

Chinle and Piñon both finished with 87 points, but the Wildcats earned the tiebreaker based on its sixth runner.

In the girls’ team standings, the Lady Panthers of Coconino put five runners in the top 9 and finished with an impressive score of 27 points.

“We have some incoming freshmen that are strong,” McGinlay said of her team. “We’re hoping to be state champs again. Last year we weren’t, but we were the year before.”

The Panthers were the Division III state champs in 2021 and last season they moved up a classification, finishing seventh at state as a Division II member.

“We’re ready to take that title back, this time in D2,” McGinlay said.

When asked about the team dynamic, McCabe said they have a close bond.

“What makes us stick together is we’re just so close as a team,” McCabe said. “In practices, we all get along and we’re always running with each other, and I think that definitely shows when we come to our races.”

---