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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Young Pinto Wins Moriarty Practice Meet

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
          Gabriel Paniagua, 300 meters from the finish-line chute on the Moriarty High track, abruptly stopped and bent over at the waist.
        "But when I stopped, I saw the other guy coming," said the 5-foot-9, 136-pound Pinto freshman after the preseason cross country practice run on Saturday. "I wanted to get first. It was my stomach. But I feel good now."
        Paniagua, after a furtive glance back at his approaching challenger, gutted it out to place first on the 3-mile course. The 15-year-old Edgewood Middle School product clocked the race, which started on Moriarty's southeast parking lot, in 17 minutes, 56 seconds.
        The Pintos' other varsity runners included senior Samuel Serafin (18:34), junior Sammy Quintero (20:43), junior Anthony Jaramillo (21:37), sophomore Kent Sidlow (22:10), sophomore Arthur Anaya (22:19) and junior Stephen Apodaca (23:27). Estancia, East Mountain and Los Lunas Valencia also participated.
        "It was a good practice meet," said Moriarty second-year coach Scott Thomas. "We trained our parents to run a meet. We needed the experience because we'll be hosting the District (5-4A) meet (on Oct. 31)."
        Del Norte was present on Saturday but did not run the race. The Knights and Valencia's Jaguars are in 5-4A with Moriarty and Albuquerque Academy.
        "Del Norte just ran the course on their own," Thomas said. "They didn't do the race because they have another scrimmage on their schedule, and they can only do one. But they got to see the course."
        Lady Pinto Cami Belcher was the fastest Moriarty girl. She finished with a time of 21:50.
        "I think I did pretty well," said Belcher, a 5-6 junior. "It's going to be a real fun year. I'm shooting for an 18:55. Maybe I can do it. I ran all summer."
        Belcher's teammates were sophomore Elizabeth Carpio (23:32), senior L'Aurie Stricklen (23:42), sophomore Malena Ipiotis (25:17), freshman Jessica Jack (28:16) and freshman Cherelle Howse (29:24).
        The Pintos open the season on Friday with a trip to Navajo, N.M., northwest of Gallup in McKinley County. The first race of the Navajo Pine Heartbreak Challenge will start at 3 p.m.
        Moriarty did not qualify any runners, boys or girls, for the state Class 4A championships in 2007.
        "We're a smaller team this year," Thomas said. "But overall, they're running faster."
        Estancia
        The Bears were paced by senior boy Pete Romero (18:49) and junior girl Sabrina Lee (23:22).
        "The course, it was kind of weird," said Romero, a 5-7, 140-pound 17-year-old. "I didn't know the course. But I think it turned out to be a pretty good course. It was real flat."
        The EHS boys placed 16th at the Class 1A-2A state meet last year. They were led by John Torres-Jaquez, who was 40th in 18:42 over the hilly course at Rio Rancho High.
        Torres-Jaquez, now a senior, did not run the practice meet. As the Bears' quarterback, he opted instead to practice with the Estancia football team.
        The Bears who did run included Jacob Torres (18:50), Martin Gutierrez (19:00), Larry Craig (20:07), Noel Gonzales (20:09) and Garrett Watkins (25:50). Gutierrez, Gonzales and Watkins are seniors.
        "We are tougher than we were before," Romero said. "(Coach Laci Lockwood) has made us give it a lot more effort. She is really, really good."
        Lockwood, in her first year as the Estancia boys and girls cross country coach, also coached the Lady Bears track and field team this past spring.
        "I think the practice meet was a very good meet for us," Lockwood said. "I was very impressed. Several of the kids said it was the fastest they'd ever run 3 miles. So that's good. It looks like a good start."
        Besides Lee, the Estancia girls were Ivonne Orozco (24:16), Emily Hibbs (25:26), Emily Chavez (25:30), Melina Wester (26:50) and Shawna Blaisure (26:50). Orozco and Hibbs are seniors.
        The Lady Bears did not score at last year's state meet.
        Estancia opens the season at the University of New Mexico Lobo Invitational, to be run on the UNM North Golf Course, on Sept. 6.
        East Mountain
        Lady Timberwolf Caroline Kaufman was the ninth runner overall to cross the finish line at Moriarty. A mere wisp of a girl, the 14-year-old won the girls race in 19:32.
        The run was Kaufman's first prep race, albeit in a practice meet.
        "I was, like, nervous," said Kaufman, a 5-1 1/2 freshman. "I just decided I'd run it like a regular practice. I said, 'I'll just pace off someone in front of me.' But I wound up not doing that. I just did what I felt was right ... It's hard not to smile when I run."
        Junior Matt Broomfield was East Mountain's lead boy. His time was 18:06.
        "I'm happy with how we did," Timberwolves coach David Naylor said. "Caroline was outstanding. And Georgia Kaufman (Caroline's sophomore sister) will do better than she did last year. And Matt had a good time.
        EMHS will travel to Alamogordo for its first regular-season meet on Sept. 6.
        Manzano
        The Monarchs will open their season at UNM on Sept. 6.