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All Rio Rancho teams place top 6 at UNM Lobo Invitational
Lucas Espinosa finished the UNM Lobo XC Invitational race in 16:04.1 which placed him fifth overall.
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ALBUQUERQUE — The Cleveland and Rio Rancho high school cross-country teams competed in the UNM Lobo XC Invitational this past Sept. 13 with all teams finding success with a top-six finish.
The Cleveland girls placed third with 131 points coming from Mariel Yepa, Erin Winters, Megan Mauermann, Sophia Yepa, Naomi St. Clair and Alina Trujillo-Sando.
Trujillo-Sando led the pack with a 20:02.5 finish, and a second behind her was St. Clair, who finished in 20:03.9.
The next wave of Cleveland runners came 15 seconds later as S. Yepa (20:17.2) and Mauermann (20:21.5) crossed the finish line a few seconds within each other.
The Cleveland boys took fourth, garnering 151 points.
The Storm boys had five runners compete in the course: Lucas Espinosa, Lucas Pena, Derek Abate, Darius Cajero and Antonio Pacheco.
The Lucas duo found themselves in a dog fight with some of the best runners in the state, both finishing in the top 10.
Pena finished the course at the 16:14.8 mark for eighth place, while Espinosa finished finished fifth with a time of 16:04.1.
“God, blessed us with a great day today. There was a cool breeze. It was a little wet but it was a lot of fun,” said Espinosa. "It feels good. It feels good to just push through till the end."
Rio Rancho girls found themselves with 164 poins, good for sixth place.
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The Rams squad consisted of five runners: Mariah Galbraith, Valentina Martinez, Caitlynn Parsons, Alex Vause and Nizhoni Tsosie.
Galbraith set the tone for the Rams with a time of 18:41.9, landing her in fourth place.
“It was OK. It felt a little longer this year,” Galbraith said after the race.
Martinez (20:01.6) and Parsons (20:41.7) each landed within the top 40 racers.
“Overall, I think we’re going to have a good season,” Parsons said.
The Rio Rancho boys took fifth place with a total of 165 points.
The boys team Michael Caraveo, Matthias Parsons, Aiden Ivener, Samuel Quesada, Gabriel Koger and Isaiah Galbraith.
The Rams team showed some grit, especially in the final stretch of the race. Showing off some endurance en route to a nice finish was Galbraith, who finished the race in 16:29.2, good for 13th place.
Following suit for the Rams was Quesada, who finished at the 17:23.6 mark, with Ivener finishing just a few seconds later (17:27.5).
