Two course records broken during 2024 Cleveland Invite

RIO RANCHO — Two course records were broken last weekend at Cleveland High School, which hosted the annual cross-country Macen Holderman Memorial Cleveland Invite.

Boys 5K

Rio Rancho runner Cody Sullivan ran a fast 15:23.4, which narrowly broke a 12-year-old record (15:23.85) that was set by Cleveland High School great Luis Martinez.

“Me and [friend and teammate] Mateo [Herrera] ran the course, and our goal was to start out in front and to keep picking it up every mile, and that’s what we did,” Sullivan said. “On the last stretch, it was just simply who can go faster? And it was a great race to the finish.”

Sullivan had a six-second lead on second-place finisher — and teammate — Mateo Herrera (15:29.8).

“The game plan was 15:20, which was the course record set by Luis Martinez 12 years ago. My teammate [Sullivan], and I were working towards that,” Herrera said.

The Rams placed third with 85 points, and the Storm placed first with 57 points.

Cleveland had four boys place in the top 12: fifth place was Vince Madalena (16:08.2), eighth place was Lucas Espinosa (16:21.9), 11th place was Lucas Pena (16:38.9), 12th place was Antwon Shendo (16:42.7).

“I was very happy with how our team performed at our first meet," said Storm head coach Kenny Henry. "We had some very good individual performances, but I was most happy with how we did as a team. We won every division except varsity girls. But, those girls also ran incredibly well."

Reigning Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year Charlie Vause did not compete this week for the Rams but will return next week.

“We were missing two runners today," said Rams head coach Phillip Keller. “We were missing Charlie Vause, who in my opinion is the best runner in the state, and we are missing Alejandro [Casaus], who is probably the best sophomore in the state. We’re missing two dawgs: Alejandro is sick, Charlie is taking the SATs, but we will be back.”

Girls 5K

Eldorado runner Gianna Rahmer ran a 18:02.7, which broke the girls 5K course record previously held by La Cueva’s Natasha Bernal (18:07.43). Rahmer, a freshman, came in first place for the girls and was 18 seconds ahead of second-place runner Chloe Grieco (19:00.3).

“I had a lot of fun. I was so excited to get back out here. I missed cross-country, and it was super fun to race and get the nerves out,” Rahmer said. “Running is not an easy sport, and whether you come in first place, 10th place, last place, I think everyone deserves a full congratulations.”

Another impressive run in the girls 5K came from Cleveland High School runner Shahad Akasha, who placed fifth with a time of 19:07.2.

Akasha is one of the newest Cleveland runners, having moved to New Mexico less than a month ago from Pullman, Washington.

“I’m new to the altitude; I’ve only been here for, like, three weeks. I still really haven't gotten used to it. I honestly don’t even know the course that well,” she said. “Even though it's my home course, I didn't even know where I was finishing. I just heard everyone saying, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s coming up,’ and then I bolted.”

The Rams finished the tournament in first place, with 62 points, and the Storm finished third, with 75 points.

Two Rams placed in the top 10 for the girls, including a seventh-place finish from freshman Mariah Galbraith (19:14.7) and a 10th-place finish from senior Abigail Beam (19:42.4).

“It was tough. I was in 11th for most of it, and then my coach said, ‘Abby, you are in 11th. Do you want that shirt?’ and I said, 'Yeah, I do,'” Beam said. Runners who placed in the top 10 got a tournament T-shirt.

“I am so proud of my varsity runners,” said RRHS head coach Phillip Keller. “One-by-one, they all looked individually awesome. I feel every one of my varsity runners ran well today.”

Middle School Races

Numerous local middle Schools came out to join the meet as well.

Among those in attendance was Eagle Ridge Middle school.

“Finishing downhill was the hardest,” Eagle Ridge runner Eliyah Routon-Gardner said. “I’m going to keep focusing on getting good times, and shoutout to [teammate] Troy [Cline], because he beat me.”

Routon-Gardner, an all-around athlete who also plays basketball and soccer, placed 27th overall for the middle school boys. Cline finished 25th.

Another highlight of the morning included an impressive team effort for the Los Alamos Middle School runners.

The Los Alamos girls claimed the top six spots in the middle school race while the Los Alamos boys had five runners in the top 10.

Macen Holderman

According to Henry, the tournament was named after Rio Rancho High School soccer player Macen Holderman three years ago after the young man lost his life to cancer.

“Macen's connection to our program ... came by way of his sister, Tessa,” Henry said. “Tessa was a very good runner at Rio Rancho High School who went on to run collegiately at Abilene Christian University. Tessa dated and is now engaged to a former Cleveland runner Luke Futey. Luke, too, was an accomplished runner at Cleveland, competing at Nichols State University. Luke and Tessa's relationship has brought the Holderman and Futey families together. Through that relationship, our cross-country program has been able to team up with the Holdermans as a way to keep Macen's memory alive, even in a sport and school Macen was not a part of. Being able to name our meet after Macen is a true honor.”