Zuni runner uses past performance for motivation

ALBUQUERQUE

Everything last season told Ryan Bowekaty that he couldn’t win a gold medal, but his confidence told him he could.

The competition was tough last season as Zuni High School competed in Class 4A and Bowekaty finished sixth in the 800-meter run.

This year, Zuni moved down to the more fitting Class 3A and Bowekaty’s confidence emerged.

Over the weekend at the 2017 NMAA, he finished first and finally won the gold in the 800-meter race. He won the gold in a time of 1:57.59.

“I was a little bit nervous going in, but I kind of knew I had it,” Bowekaty said.

Bowekaty had the best qualifying time going into the meet. He also qualified for the 200-meter dash and the 1600-meter run.

He didn’t make the cut in the preliminaries of the 200 and chose not to race the 1600 after the high temperatures affected his performances, especially after running the 800.

In the 800, Bowekaty had a strong start, which Zuni head coach Chris Carroll said was the plan.

“We wanted him to take it out,” he said. “We knew that no one else would pretty much stay with him if he took it out hard enough and that they’d probably just drop off like flies because they were not going to be able to handle his strength.”

Carroll was right.

Bowekaty heaved his way out of the starting pack and into the front, not letting down or turning back.

He gained even more leverage after his second lap, when he realized he had the win in the bag.

“I kind of knew I had a lead so I wasn’t worried about it,” he said.

He finished in a time of 1:57.59, his best time this season.

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