Zuni boys make statement with first-place win

TOHATCHI

From top to bottom, the Zuni boys’ cross-country team has a chance to do something special this year.

Despite not having a season last year due to the global pandemic, the Thunderbirds put the state on notice at last week’s Náshdóítsoh Cougar Invitational.

In dominating fashion, Zuni placed five runners in the top 10 as they ran away with the team title at the 10-team invite hosted by Tohatchi High School.

“We came in with no expectation,” longtime Zuni coach Chris Carroll said. “We didn’t run last year because of COVID so we didn’t get the opportunity to compete so I know my kids were really hungry.”

Zuni was led by a 1-2 finish from senior Kameron Eustace and Alec Lastyano as the two runners paced the T-Birds to a team score of 24 points.

“It’s a great way to start the season,” Eustace said as he won the 3.1-mile course at Hamburger Hill in 17 minutes, 43.38 seconds.

“My coach told to let loose and that is what took me home,” he said.

Lastyano, meanwhile, came in a distant second with a time of 18:10.09.

“I felt tired but I kept going,” Lastyano said.

In the middle of the race, Miyamura’s Tayan Benson challenged the junior T-Bird harrier but after they descended downhill Lastyano made his move.

“He started to slow down so I just thought it was the right time to pick it up,” Lastyano said. “I just tried to catch our first runner.”

Carroll said Lastyano has been making strides since his eighth-grade year but his progress really took off during last year’s track season.

“He ended up fourth at state in the 3,200 and that really gave him that confidence he was lacking,” he said. “With him running No. 2 today is where I thought he’d be.”

To complete the team score, Zuni had Andrew Romancito place fifth, Kyle Awelgate in seventh and Derek Zunie in 10th.

As nonscoring members, the T-Birds also had Mekai Begay place 12th and Pernell Kaamasee at 52nd.

Lastyano said the team’s first-place finish was spurred by what they saw on social media, as Milesplit.com didn’t have Zuni ranked in its early season poll. (Milesplit.com is a website dedicated to high school cross-country and track.)

“Looking at that, it just gave our team a whole lot of motivation,” Lastyano said. “We wanted to show them that Zuni is still one of the best running programs within our district.

“It motivated us a lot because we felt like we weren’t appreciated enough,” he added. “Overall, I think our whole team was inspired by that. That’s what motivated us to run harder today and show them that we’re still up there.”

While Zuni was making its case as one of the area’s top teams, Miyamura scored four runners in the top 17 for a second-place finish in the team standings.

The Patriots were led by George Piestewa’s sixth-place finish. Benson, Miyamura’s top runner, took 13th while Saleem Gillespie and Kyle Bates placed 15th and 16th, respectively.

Meet host Tohatchi came in third with 89 points, headed by the fourth-place finish from senior Melvin Scott Jr.

“It was a competitive race with all these other runners from different schools,” said Scott, who got boxed in at the start of the race.

“I got stuck in the middle of the pack and I had use more energy to get out,” he said. “Luckily I got out but it affected me there at the end because I had no energy coming in.”

Tohatchi coach Fern Spencer said she was pleased with the team’s third-place finish even though they were missing two varsity runners.

“I believe they did good,” she said. “They were in the right places and, you know, they had to do what they had to do without the two runners that we didn’t have. We had to have other guys pick up the slack.”

---