Reaching the Summit - Estevan Vigil

James Barron | The New Mexican

6/3/2009 - 6/3/09

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Estevan Vigil isn't familiar with the history of Hermit's Peak, but he's knows its face almost as if it's his own.

What the Las Vegas Robertson High School junior doesn't know, the next couple of paragraphs will enlighten him on the genesis of one of his favorite places.

Hermit's Peak, which is on the southeastern edges of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, formed about 27 million years ago, but its name is only about 150 years old.

The peak is named for an Italian monk, John Augustiani, who lived as a recluse in a cave. The legend is that he traded blessings for food and other necessities, and his cave became a pilgrimage for some New Mexicans, even after his death.

But the mountain that carries Augustiani's legacy also carries a pronounced feature that Vigil is very familiar with. The peak is a part of a formation that appears to be an image of a face looking to the sky.

"If you look at it from a distance, you can see the shape," Vigil says. "You can see a forehead and the bridge of his nose (Hermit's Peak) and the shape of his lips on the other side of the mountain. But you've got to find the right angle ...

"There's a point that you get to, where it looks like it (the mountain) broke off and it goes way down — into the some big ol' huge rocks. Then there's a huge valley that goes up into the other mountain (the chin on the east side). When you're on Hermit's Peak, if you keep turning to the right, you can see where it turns into the plains and the mountains just start to fade away. It's just flat land and the other side is just mountainous, and you can see it.

"It's nice."

It's a terrain Vigil has explored on foot since he learned how to walk, and a place that he and a few friends — usually his best friend and wrestling teammate Dmitri Almanzar and his brother-in-law Emanuel Jones, traverse every few weeks.

The last time was about three weeks ago, just before the Class AAA State Boys Track and Field Championships, where he made his mark as the best AAA athlete at the state's most revered track event. The trio didn't use the trails available to hikers. Instead they went with the trail less traveled — or what Almanzar calls "trekking."

"We just, like, run through the woods and the mountains," Almanzar says. "It's pretty fun and a good workout, too."

A workout might be an understatement. They endured all the inclines and declines of the terrain. There were moments when two legs aren't enough.

"There are certain places where you have to get on all fours," Vigil says.

Then they raced back to the El Porvenir campground, sometimes stumbling, and sometimes tumbling.

But the view and camaraderie make the trip worth it.

"It's just for fun, more than anything else," Vigil says. "Usually, we just want to go out there, look out at the banks and get some fresh air."

The mountain suits Vigil perfectly.

Even though he has his own car — a 1996 Saturn sedan passed down to him by
his dad, Vincent — Vigil is one to prefer running, walking or biking to his destination. Almanzar says he often shows up to Vigil's home on the weekends to see Vigil running around the block.

"Sometimes, I run with him, but usually I just hang out and wait for him," Almanzar says. "I guess it feels good in the morning, with that fresh air. That's Estevan."

Even then, he can surprise himself with his athletic feats.

He recalls one time this year where he drove home for lunch, before realizing he had five minutes to get back to school. Off he went on his bike and made it back just as the bell for the next period rang.

But his prowess is no secret to his friends, classmates, teammates and opponents alike. His junior year was the equal of no other athlete in the North.

His reward is being named The New Mexican's 2008-09 Athlete of the Year for boys. He is the fourth straight Robertson athlete to earn the recognition.

Vigil was the leading rusher for the football team (650 yards, with a 4.6 yards per carry average) that advanced to the AAA playoffs despite the troubles of a physical-assault incident that clouded the season.

His third-place finish at 171 pounds in A-AAA wrestling helped Robertson take its fourth straight state trophy.

Vigil topped off an unforgettable season with an equally remarkable performance in track and field. He won the long jump, then the 100 and 200 meters. He also placed second in the javelin and the 400, for a total of 31 points. Twenty-four of them came during the second day, as Robertson rose from ninth place in the team standings to a third-place podium finish.

To top it off, Vigil was named the AAA high-point scorer. His total was second only to Albuquerque Academy's Curtis Beach, who scored a perfect 35 in Class AAAA.

It was clear almost from the first time he touched the football as a seventh-grader, his first year after returning from Roswell where he lived with his mother, Pauline Rudolfo, for four years after his parents divorced.

Remember almost, though.

The first touch in middle school football resulted in Vigil going the wrong way on the play. His coach then, Richard Martinez, remembers what he asked Vigil after that display.

"I said, 'Do you know the difference from your left and your right?' " recalls Martinez, who is the head football and wrestling coach at Robertson.

Seven straight touchdowns later, there was no need to ask that again, although Martinez still uses it to needle his top running back.

"Every time he touched the ball, he carried it for a touchdown," Martinez says. "That is unreal."

Almost as unreal as his unique blend of speed and strength. Vigil came within .43 of a second of taking all three sprint events, but Albuquerque Sandia Preparatory's Bronson Duran eked out a 49.32-.49.75 win in the 400. It was the second straight year that Vigil was denied the trifecta. Last year, it was the 100 that eluded his grasp.

His sudden rise in the javelin, though, revealed the nature of his strength.

Vigil had never picked up a javelin — despite his insistence upon it — until April. At a practice before Robertson's home meet, the Meadow City Invitational, Vigil finally got a chance. His first heave was unofficially a foot short of the qualifying mark for state.

"He didn't have much of an approach," Robertson head track and field coach Mike Boyle says. "He just took three or four steps and released it."

When it came time for the meet, Vigil scratched on his first try, in which the distance would have qualified him in the event. The second one did at 161 feet, 9 inches. In fact, it was the best in AAA at that point. Only Lovington's Blake Young (185-5) out-threw him before the state meet.

Young repeated that effort in Albuquerque, with his throw of 174-1. It beat Vigil's 159-10 for the individual title.

Almanzar, who is Vigil's wrestling practice partner, routinely experiences Vigil's strength first-hand. But he's also helped Vigil learn that brute strength doesn't always equal success, especially on the wrestling mat.

"He had never really wrestled until the seventh grade," Martinez says. "He relied mainly on his strength, but he's learned to use a little more finesse. He's become a really good wrestler."

In his second year on the varsity team, Vigil went 30-10 this year before getting knocked out of the championship bracket by West Las Vegas' John Armijo, the eventual champion. He rebounded to take third in the consolation bracket.

The wrestling success helped mute the resonation that emanated from a dark fall in which he and the football team were hit hard by one moment — the assault incident in August.

During a two-a-day camp held at Western Life Camp in Gallinas, six football players were accused of sodomizing several younger players with a broomstick. It led to year-long suspensions from Robertson for five of the players and the expulsion of another, and criminal charges
for all of them. Two players have reached plea agreements.

Also caught up in the storm were then-head coach Ray Woods and his coaching staff, who all resigned a month later, as well as athletic director Mike Yara, who was suspended during the school's investigation of the incident.

Vigil feels that time has helped heal the wounds.

"It's just dust in the wind now," he says.

But he also learned to keep an eye open to any potential problems.

"I wasn't really paying attention to it," Vigil says. "Now, at least I know now to stop the stupid stuff, especially with the young ones because they like going out on trips and mess around in the hotel rooms."

Taking on more of a leadership role has allowed his affable personality to bloom even more. Friends, teammates and coaches say he's never been afraid of striking up a conversation with anybody. Richard Martinez calls Vigil "the fourth or fifth Martinez," and he even spent Christmas in 2007 with his extended family.

He's also one of the first to lend a hand when needed.

"We were getting ready for the end of the school year, and he's there with the art teacher washing the cabinets," Boyle says. "He just likes to be around and is very sociable. Everybody kind of likes him."

Almanzar says Vigil's family often holds barbecues at their house in northern Las Vegas, and the house is usually full of friends and family. But what Vigil especially likes is the eating portion of these social events.

"We never lack for food around here," a giddy Vigil says.

Vigil's hospitality even extends to his trips to Hermit's Peak. He's brought a few of his friends and teammates on his treks, which occur regardless of the season.

Vigil also likes to take advantage of using the hot springs in the area. It's a popular spot for he and his wrestling teammates, who often spend a couple of hours there as post-practice therapy in the winter.

"They help with the sore muscles, and we pretty much go every day," Vigil says. "We'd go right after practice and stay there for about two or three hours. About 15 yards away, there's the river there. We jump into the river and then into the baths. It feels good. We'd do it in the snow and everything."

Vigil spends so much time there, he's given some thought to being a tour guide of the area. But after pondering it for a moment, he decides against it.

"Eh, probably not," Vigil says. "But I would do it for fun, just with friends."

Besides, there's a reason it's called Hermit's Peak.