"Individuals get remembered. But teams leave legacies."

James Viarreal


JACONA — James Viarreal will remember Friday as the day he won his first cross country race, and the day his team lost the District 2AAA title.

"I'd trade my first place for the team's first place," Viarreal, a Pojoaque Valley High School senior, said.

Sorry, James.

Santa Fe Indian School wasn't about to bargain. Not after running its best race of the season just eight days before the Class AAA State Cross Country Championships.

The Braves crossed 2-3-5-6-7 for the low score of 23 points. Viarreal and the Elks finished second, with 37 points, while St. Michael's, the reigning state champion, qualified by finishing third. It was the fourth meeting between the two state favorites. It was the first time the Braves bettered the Elks.

"We've run close to this all year, but yeah, we had a good day," John Grimley, SFIS head coach, said. "I'm very proud and very pleased with the outcome today."

Grimley was including his Lady Braves, who came close to their second straight district upset of the Lady Horsemen of St. Michael's in the race prior to the boys taking the 3.09-mile course that wound through arroyos and on top of ridges that surround Pojoaque Valley High School.

After Kate Norskog claimed her third 2AAA championship, the Lady Braves' troika of Marlinda Pecos, Olivia Mermejo and Jennifer Willie followed the St. Michael's junior across the finish line.

But Meaghan Martinez-Palmer, Jamie Velasquez and Analyssa Garcia restored order, placing fifth, seventh and eighth, respectively, for the Lady Horsemen. When Clarissa Trujillo crossed 12th, St. Michael's had its fifth district crown in the last six years.

Barely.

St. Michael's finished with 33 points, while Santa Fe Indian School scored 36. Pojoaque Valley was the third team to qualify for state, with 79 points.

"It was a good, solid team effort," Lenny Gurule, St. Michael's head coach, said. "We needed to close the gap between our second and fifth runner, and we closed that gap pretty well today."

The gap between Martinez-Palmer and Trujillo was only 25 seconds.

"Clarissa, by far, had her best race of the year," Gurule said.

Norskog, meanwhile, is starting to resemble the Norskog that won her first state title in eighth-grade and her second last season.

Norskog traded strides with Pecos through the opening mile, then slowly pulled away. She crossed in 20 minutes, 17 seconds. Pecos clocked 20:57.

"It was nice to go out and do my race plan," Norskog said.

Norskog has contributed to three state team titles, part of the Lady Horsemen's four straight.

"All are really important, all are really special," Norskog said, putting the team's accomplishments first. "This year, I was just very happy with how I ran."

Velasquez, who is battling a sinus infection, wanted a do-over.

"It's taking a long time to recover," Velasquez said, "so it's frustrating."

The victory was not.

"Each time it's different," Velasquez said of the myriad of titles. "And that makes them special in their own ways."

Viarreal wants what the Lady Horsemen have. Can you blame him? He knows he won't have to wait long. But, it will be his final opportunity.

"I'm grateful that it happened this week," Viarreal said of the team loss. "Hopefully, it won't happen next week.

"Everyone has had the dream of winning state. We're not going to let it slip out of our grasp because of this loss."

Allan Lockridge, who has been head coach at Pojoaque Valley for 22 years, said the better team won.

"A very good team beat us," Lockridge said. "Give Indian School a lot of credit. They came in and ran like a good team should. We had a good week of practice. We just didn't put it together in the race. We put too much pressure on us. The good thing is, it ain't over."

Neither was the individual race.

Viarreal knew the surroundings — the course, the challengers. He used the former to his advantage.

"I really tried to push it through the small arroyo, but I knew I had to work the hills," Viarreal said. "The hills were my way of gapping everybody and ensuring my position."

At times, it was hard to hear footsteps, what with the home crowd cheering the popular Viarreal. But Trevor Merhege, of Santa Fe Indian School, didn't need sound to stay loyal to Viarreal's pace. His sight was plenty.

What Merhege eventually saw was Viarreal rounding the final corner and reaching the track, which signified the final 50 meters. Viarreal sprinted to 17:13. He was still catching his breath when Merhege dashed in at 17:18. It would be another 30 seconds before the next runner, Santiago Pasquale, emerged. Pasquale, of Santa Fe Indian School, took third in 17:46.

"He's a good runner," Merhege said of Viarreal. "He's really good."

So is Merhege, who must be in the conversation of state favorites.

Merhege, though, was more interested in talking about the team title.

"It was pretty important, to at least get our confidence back," Merhege said. "It makes us think that we can do it. But they're a good team and we're not going to get ..."

Cocky, Trevor?

"That's the word," he said.

The interview was the only time Merhege was sans teammates. That's OK. He expects to be in a scrum of familiar faces at state.

"In the middle, we were all pretty close together," Merhege said. "There were two teammates right in back of me. I knew James and I were a little ahead, but I could hear them."

After Merhege finished, he finally got to see what he heard, which was Jesse Madalena finishing fifth, followed by Steven Mora in sixth and Tyler Atencio in seventh.

Based on results, Merhege has emerged as the leader of the pack. He will not put himself above his teammates.

"We each have an equal part of the team," Merhege said. "Today, we ran our race. It naturally came to us."

And next week?

Who knows?

Not Grimley.

"I know they're going to be there next week," Grimley said of the Elks. "We know we have the targets on our backs, but there are other teams coming after us. Zuni, Laguna-Acoma. Both are moving up at a rapid pace. And you have Hope Christian and Miyamura. It's not going to be a cakewalk."

But it will leave a legacy.

Contact Pancho Morris at 986-3089 or pmorris@sfnewmexican.com.