Runs in the family: Rehoboth siblings capture XC crowns

REHOBOTH, N.M.

Siblings Pete and Emily Garcia left their mark at the District 1-2A cross country meet last Friday.

The Rehoboth High brother/sister act were the overall winners in their respective 5K races, as they both captured their first-ever district crowns.

“First of all I’m very thankful that we got to run,” Pete said. “This pandemic has not been good for high school sports so I’m really thankful that we were able to compete.”

“It’s exciting to be out there running again,” his younger sister chimed in. “It’s good to see all these runners come out because we all had a good time competing against one another.”

Pete was the first one to win his race as he battled Navajo Pine’s Micah Tsosie for the district crown.

Pete won his race in 19 minutes, 47 seconds with Tsosie trailing 12 seconds back.

According to Pete, the two runners switched positions at least five times on the hilly and sandy Rehoboth course.

“I was fighting with Micah throughout the race,” he said. “The last few yards I knew I had to push it because I knew he was gonna give me a fight at the end. I wasn’t sure how far he was behind me, but I knew I had to push it.”

Pete credited former Rehoboth standout Andy Yazzie for teaching him a new technique that helped him win his race.

“I learned a new tip from Andy and that came useful when I was coming down that last hill,” he said. “I’m excited that I won and my hard work has finally paid off.”

Paced by Pete, the Rehoboth boys won the team title with 18 points while Ramah tallied 30 as both teams earned state qualifications. Meanwhile, neither Navajo Pine nor Pine Hill had enough runners to field a team.

The Lynx also got a fourth-place finish from Silas Bell while Charles Lynch and Jacob Byker took sixth and seventh, respectively. Rehoboth’s fifth runner, Kalev Isaacson, took 14th overall.

“I have a total of seven runners on the team, five boys and two girls,” Rehoboth coach Elmer Yazzie said. “Our kids have worked really hard and, you know, just being the way it was with the pandemic they just have a tremendous attitude. They came up for practice every day during spring break (last) week.

“We would have loved to have had a full team but I understand with the concerns with COVID,” he added. “A lot of our usual runners chose not to run this year, but I understand completely.”

Yazzie said he likes their chances at state as Rehoboth is looking to improve on its sixth-place finish last season.

“I think we have a pretty competitive team,” he said. “I really believe that we’ll do quite well at state. These boys are excited to run and they’re motivated so I’m really looking forward to see how things unfold.”

Ramah had four runners place in the top 10 to complete the team score headed by the third-place effort from junior McKay Evans. The Mustangs had Tjae Charley, Labron Maria and Amari Waatsa take up the 8-9-10 positions. As a nonscoring member, Ramah also got a 13th-place effort

“I’m really excited for these boys,” Ramah coach Miles Killian said. “All of them play football and for state it’s going to work out because they’ll run on Friday and they’ll play football on (Thursday).”

Individually, Navajo Pine’s Micah Tsosie, Pine Hill’s Nanez Eriacho and Collin Martine also made state.

Girls

As the only girls’ squad to field a team, the Ramah Lady Mustangs won the district outright with 19 points.

Ramah took up the third to fifth slots with Aleeya Lambson leading the way followed by her teammates Kana Tuney and Lydia Lambson. Lady Mustang Shamika Maria took seventh while Penelope Maria placed ninth.

“The ceiling is high for them and they’re young,” Killian said of his girls’ squad. “My top three, the oldest is a freshman and the other two are eighth-graders. They’re young and I know we have a couple of mid-schoolers coming up that we have high hopes for. We’re just trying to build something here that lasts longer than a one-and-done season. They work well together and they train well together.”

Killian said he’s lucky to have his top three runners because they push one another.

“It just depends on the race, because they’ll flip-flop,” he said. “Today it was a little hotter than they’re used to so my second-place girl didn’t run as well but my first one was awesome. They’ve been consistent all year.”

In addition to Emily Garcia, Pine Hill’s Kiara Etsitty and Tylaine Edsitty will join the Rehoboth runner as individual qualifiers for state.

“This is a humbling experience,” Emily said of winning the district title in 24:20, which was 24 seconds faster than Etsitty.

Earlier in the race, Emily trailed the Pine Hill runner by a few strides but she surpassed last season’s district champion after the two-mile marker.

“This race was hard to run because of the gradual inclines,” the Rehoboth freshman said. “But our coaches prepared us for these hills and I felt like I just ran my best.”

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