'Changing of the guard:' Keller, Rams get set for '25 XC season

RIO RANCHO — State championships, national rankings, Coach of the Year awards.

Rio Rancho High School’s cross-country reign since the start of the decade has been no joke.

But all winning seasons have to start somewhere, and for Head Coach Phil Keller and the Rams, that starting point is … a potluck?

“It’s a Sal Gonzales tradition that I kept going. We do it under the lights by the soccer fields,” Keller said. “We also draft teams. They (the runners) put on face paint and wear either blue or green, depending on the team they are on. And then we have a little competition.”

The “Running Rams” were split into “Team Blue” and “Team Green” for the day Thursday, with a competitive time trial between the squads taking place before gathering back together as one team for a potluck dinner.

In a long season of running, it is important not to forget the fun.

“You need that balance,” Keller said. “If kids aren’t having fun, their dedication and motivation will wane. So you’re always trying to keep the dedication and motivation up. And you can do that by adding some of those incentives and some of those fun things that we do.”

Face paint and Crock-Pots aside, this season will mark a new era of Rio Rancho cross-country. Of the 14 Rio Rancho runners in last season’s state championship, where the Rams took first place on the boys’ side and second on the girls’, eight of them were graduating seniors.

“It’s a changing of the guard. I’ve told the kids that it’s next man up. That’s what we’re looking at,” Keller said. “We’ve had some kids, boys and girls, that have been kind of toiling away in JV and haven’t got a lot of recognition, and now it’s their chance to show what they can do.”

The spotlight will now shift to names like Mariah Galbraith and Alejandro Casaus. Galbraith finished second overall as a freshman in the girls’ state championship last fall, with Casaus being the only underclassman to finish in the boys’ top 10 as a sophomore.

But if the Rams want to get back to the top of the podium, it will be up to the development of the names we have yet to learn.

“There are a few more conversations behind the scenes about building a team and giving some kids the confidence they need to succeed at the varsity level,” Keller said. “Because it can be a different level of intensity, you know? But I try to be as consistent as I can. I’m treating everyone similarly and holding everyone to the same expectations.”

Keller and his 2025 Rams will kick the season off in rivalry fashion, running in the Cleveland Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 23.

“When we were all setting our schedules this summer, I never messaged Coach (Kenny) Henry that we were coming. And he messaged me, ‘You guys coming?’” Keller said. “And I thought that was assumed, you know; of course we’re going over there!”