The Los Lunas boys cross country team was crowned district champion last Friday in Grants.
Tiger runner Lance Lueras was the individual district champion with a time of 16:50.30.
The top three teams in the district meet qualify for the State Championship this Saturday at Rio Rancho High School, while the top three finishers from non-qualifying teams qualify as well.
Opening ceremonies will be held at 9:15 a.m., followed by the Class 3A girls race. The Class 4A girls race will begin at 10 a.m., while the 4A boys won’t race until 12:05 p.m.
The Tigers won their title with a team score of 28. St. Pius X came in second with a score of 40 and Grants finished in third.
Belen and Valencia finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with scores of 104 and 116.
While the Tigers were the only Valencia County school to earn team qualification, Belen runners Santos Sisneros, who finished 10th and Blaze Sheets, who finished 21st, qualified along with Valencia runner William Luther as the top three finishers from non-qualifying teams.
On the girls side, Valencia runner Raquel Chavez took home the individual crown in dominant fashion, coming in with a time of 20:00.21.
The next finisher in the race was Los Lunas’ Amanda Sparks who finished in 20:50.34.
St. Pius took home the girls crown with a score of 38, while Los Lunas finished in second with a score of 45 to earn automatic qualification for state.
Grants came in third to secure the final qualification spot.
Valencia came in fourth with a score of 75 and Belen did not have any runners compete in the girls race.
Valencia did not earn automatic team qualification, but will be sending Chavez as well as Morgan Sanchez, who finished 15th and Sonja Lopez, who came in 17th as the top three finishers from a non-qualifying team.
More information, including directions and parking information, regarding the State Championships can be found online at nmact.org.
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April 18, 2024
