State track & field championships: Pecos senior 'loves to race'

Pancho Morris | The New Mexican

5/8/2008 - 5/9/08

Fall down seven times, get up eight. — Japanese proverb

You just can't knock this kid out. — Sal Gonzales

A bull nearly crushed his entire future, and a fire nearly destroyed all of his past, and if those weren't the low points of a life that is still more potential than polish, a spike ruined what was going to be a promising senior season in cross country.

And while the tragedies outweigh the triumphs, and the state medals have always been presented to someone else, Charles Roybal once again is at the starting line, this time for today's Class AA State Track and Field Championships at Great Friends of UNM Track in Albuquerque.

"He's the underdog, but he never complains," Sal Gonzales, Pecos High School head coach, says of his senior distance runner.

Gonzales was a straight-out-of-college teacher, and Roybal was an out-of-control child when their lives intersected nine years ago.

"I had a bad case of ADD, and I was so hyper that the teachers did not like having me in their class," Roybal says, recalling third grade. "It was Coach Sal's first year and he didn't know better."

Roybal laughs at the memory. Then he gets serious.

"If it wasn't for Coach Sal, I wouldn't be the person I am today," Roybal says. "He's made all the difference. He's always been like a second father figure and he's one of my best friends. When we go on our runs for a couple hours, there's nothing I can't talk about to him. He's always been there to help me out. I can't put into words just how much of an impact he's had on my life."

The bond between teacher and student, coach and athlete, friend and friend, was fused with two words: root beer.

"Charles is country-strong," Gonzales says. "He was stronger than everyone at the time. In third grade, he liked to punch kids in the head. So we developed this system. Every time I saw him sidestepping at a kid with his fist pumped, I would yell out, 'root beer.' When he heard that, he would do push-ups in the middle of the aisle, get back in his seat and go back to work.

"And, we wouldn't have a crying kid."

In fourth grade, Gonzales made a deal with Roybal. So long as his attitude in class was exemplary, Roybal could come to cross country practice.

"Two days a week, he's training with the varsity," Gonzales says. "He comes on the easy days, but he's running as hard as he can to stay up with these guys. He just runs as hard as he can."

Roybal still does.

"He just busts his ass," Gonzales says. "As a distance runner, he sticks out like a thumb. He's big and he's barrel-chested. You look at him and you think, 'This kid shouldn't be in the front of the field.' But he's smart and he's determined. And he loves to race."

It wasn't always so.

Roybal's first love was rodeo. Even after he made varsity in cross country and track as an eighth-grader, running was not his first priority.

That's why, during his freshman year, he was at a junior professional rodeo in early February in Cortez, Colo. Roybal was a second, maybe two, from a successful ride when his bull went hoofs-over-horns.

"It was a freak deal," Roybal says. "The bull lost his footing and stumbled over the top of me. It was pretty far into the ride, but before I knew it, things got out of hand."

Roybal doesn't recall the details of his tuck, of the bull's roll.

"That stuff is kind of a blur," he says. "I remember thinking, 'Uh-oh. This is never good.' I tried to get myself out of that situation."

He didn't.

Roybal was taken to the emergency room. The initial diagnosis was promising.

"They didn't think it was too, too bad," he says.

Roybal's records were forwarded to St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Santa Fe. Two days later, the phone rang. The hospital wanted him to come in for further evaluation.

"They pretty much found everything else," Roybal says.

There was plenty wrong.

"It turned out I had a punctured lung, a bruised kidney and a separated collar bone," Roybal says of his left clavicle.

Roybal also had a blood clot on the descending aorta blood vessel, one of the major vessels that pumps blood out of the heart. Surgery was required.

He couldn't ride for six months. As for running, he was never the same. Not until he rededicated himself after his junior year.

But prior to finding himself in running, Roybal lost nearly everything in a 2006 fire.

"That was pretty devastating," Roybal says of a fire that destroyed the family home. "That happened about 2 in the morning. It was either late September or early October. Our dog, Cody, was barking outside. I remember waking up and our house was filled with smoke.

"We had just competed in a meet, so my cross country bag was still packed and near my bed. I woke up and for some reason grabbed that and ran out the door."

Clothes, and other small items, were the only things saved. Everything else had to be replaced.

"I remember we were heading to a meet and Charles says, 'My shoes still smell like smoke,' " Gonzales says.

Roybal still has those racing flats. He wears them each time he runs the 3,200 meters. Sweat has soaked away the scent of smoke.

"It's incredible what he's had to overcome," Gonzales says.

The fire wasn't the final obstacle, just one of a successive of setbacks. Another loomed.

Roybal had his best summer of training, heading into the 2007 cross country season. He established himself as the team's second runner behind Mario Armijo. While Armijo went on to win the state championship, the first Pecos boy to do so in school history, Roybal never competed in a single race.

Before the season opener, Roybal spiked his right Achilles tendon in a freak accident.

"My brother Joseph works as a lineman for the phone company," Roybal says, "and he had a new pair of pads for his spikes. For some reason, I put on the spikes and climbed halfway up the pole."

Roybal realized he had gone far enough. His brother told him to be careful coming down and to make sure that he kept one leg on each side of the pole.

"I was about two steps from the bottom and I tried to cross my legs over," Roybal says.

That's when the left spike when into his right Achilles.

"It didn't hurt too bad," Roybal says. "I finished climbing down and when I got to the bottom, I couldn't push off my right foot. I was praying to God that nothing was wrong. But I couldn't feel anything. It was a horrible feeling.

"It was one of the most devastating things to happen to me. That still kills me."

Roybal went from breaking Patrick Ortiz's trail record to barely keeping up with the back of the pack.

"I was too far gone to do any good," Roybal says. "It wasn't what I had planned for my season."

The sorrow in Roybal's eyes matched the sadness in Gonzales' heart.

"If any teacher or any coach tells you they don't have favorites, they're lying," Gonzales says. "Charles, for sure, is one of my favorites."

It was Gonzales and Melissa Roybal — Charles' mom — who convinced Roybal he had come too far to stop.

"They've always been there," Roybal says. "They kept telling me to keep on trying, keep on trying."

He did.

He does.

The result is a healthy Roybal for this, his final state meet.

"I feel that I'm in pretty good shape," Roybal says. "I worked with a physical therapist who really helped me. I'm feeling the difference and feeling the strength I had before the injury. I'm pretty nervous, that's for sure. But when the time comes, I'll be ready to go."

Roybal is qualified in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. The 1,600 — the metric mile — is set for 3:08 this afternoon.

It is his specialty.

"Last year, I thought I was an 800 runner," Roybal says. "But I've come into my own in the mile."

Roybal is seeded seventh, with a season-best of 5 minutes, 10.61 seconds. Thomas Martinez of Navajo Pine is the top seed at 4:39.72. Armijo is fourth at 5:06.66.

"Meb usually takes out the pace," Roybal says, calling Armijo by his nickname. "He keeps the pace true. Early on, when they take off, my goal and my job is to go when they go and hang with them. I know I can't outkick them at the end, so I'll try to start my kick early."

Gonzales expects a crowded finish. He expects a pair of Panthers to be part of the lead pack.

"It plays out good for him," Gonzales says of Roybal. "It's the first race, he'll be fresh and it's his favorite race."

Roybal is seeded sixth in the 3,200 and ninth in the 800.

"I don't think anyone has a good handle on what's going to go on in the 800," Gonzales says. "The top two have distanced themselves, but the rest of the field is really muddled."

The 3,200 is not as deep as in meets past.

Gonzales believes Roybal could be on the medals stand three times. It's way past due.

"He should have medaled a couple times," Gonzales says. "And he would have medaled for sure in cross country this year."

Each Pecos distance medalist gets either a workout or a trail named in his or her honor. The "Charles Roybal Massacre," 25x200 meters with a 100-meter recovery jog in between, is written — but not yet set in stone.

Roybal, though, has his legacy.

"My first big responsibility was going to state my eighth-grade year," Roybal says. "I realized I have a team to worry about. I wasn't there just for myself, but for them."

He still is.

"He's a good-looking kid and he's amazingly charismatic," Gonzales says. "He could lead the whole team against me and they would all follow him. But he never would. He's never struggled about what to run. He tells me, 'I don't care coach. Tell me what to do, and I'll run it.' That's who he is."

Gonzales will miss Roybal. Those long training runs will never be the same.

"We've had lots of great conversations," Gonzales says. "When he was a freshman, he would be talking about hunting and shooting his gun. Now, he gets into his classes."

Not just those at PHS.

Roybal is three credits shy of receiving a general arts certificate from Luna Community College. The junior college, located just up I-25 in Las Vegas, N.M., offers Pecos students college credits as an alternative to high school electives.

Roybal took full advantage. Not bad for someone whose reading level was below the standard as a freshman.

"He took two English classes that year, two English classes his sophomore year. Now, he's taking advanced placement English," Gonzales says. "He's incredibly intelligent. He's not the classic bookworm type, but he's remembering everything they say. He should be the poster child for what we call the Luna program."

Gonzales is having trouble keeping up. Not with the stride, but with the subjects.

"We're talking about sociology and about certain philosophies," Gonzales says. "I'm asking myself, 'Where is this kid coming from?' "

The question is rhetorical.

Gonzales knows where Roybal's been. And Roybal knows where he's heading.

"My goal is set on Las Cruces," Roybal says of New Mexico State University. "Running's a big part of my life and I've found a lot of meaning in it. I like rodeo a lot, but I'd feel a lot more satisfaction if I can make the cross country team."

NMSU, though, might not be a permanent home.

"Meb and I have a little pack going on," Roybal says of Armijo, a junior. "We've talked about running together in college."

Roybal is back running.

Again.

He's back among the best.

Again.

He's ready for the road ahead.

Again.

To pick himself up when life knocks him down.

Again.

A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials. — Japanese proverb

I hope every day that his senior year finishes with a happy ending. — Sal Gonzales