The Taos Middle and High School cross country teams continued to make strides in their third event in Colorado for the 31st Annual Joe I. Vigil Cross Country Invitational last weekend.
The Tigers' varsity boys team is running well and placed fifth among 28 teams. The Tiger boys had a nearly 17-minute average in the race. Out of 304 high school boys, sophomore Billy Romero led the boys with a 15:44 time, placing third overall. Romero was followed by Junior Judah Daffron, who finished with a 15:52 at fourth. Seniors Carlos Limas and Brandon Mirabal finished 47th and 50th, respectively. Sophomore Victor Enriquez placed 70th, senior Antonio Silva placed 74th, and freshman Brian Gallegos placed 117th.
The Lady Tiger varsity team placed 14th out of 23 teams, with an average time of 22:36. Junior Elaina Cisneros placed 11th overall with a 19:51 finish, followed by sophomore Jaeda Blair at 69th and a 22:01 run time. Juniors Mary Jane Cook, Lili Hart and Nadija Kostisch finished 97th, 110th and 174th, respectively. Freshman Elia Hurtado placed 180th.
Seven boys competed in the boys’ middle school division and finished sixth as a team with an average of 12:44 in the 3,000-meter course. Jaxon Tafoya led the way with an 18th-place finish. Eighth graders Evan De Hererra and Jose Vigil finished 32nd and 33rd, respectively. Seventh-grader Joshua Chavez snatched the 53rd spot, and fellow classmates Carlos Cisneros and Leo Maesteas placed 97th and 106th.
The girls’ middle school team only had three athletes compete, but ran well in the meet, finishing in the middle of the pack. Eighth graders Emilia Pena and Kaely Tafoya placed 57th and 72nd, while seventh grader Ayva Martinez took 68th overall.
Both Romero and Daffron qualified in MileSplit United States as elite performers, with Romero grabbing a First-Team nomination, followed by Daffron with a Second-Team nod for his performance.
Hosted in Alamosa’s Adam State University, the invite was named after coach and educator Dr. Joe Vigil. According to the Adam State Athletics, the hall-of-famer was a longtime coach at Adam State, where he built the cross country and track program into a powerhouse. Vigil led the Grizzlies’ program to 3,000 wins and just 176 losses, a 94 percent win rate, and produced 425 All-Americans and 87 individual national champions during his tenure at the program, according to the Colorado Running Hall of Fame.
On Saturday (Sept. 14), the Tigers high school teams will travel to Albuquerque for the University of New Mexico Invite. The meet will be hosted at the UNM North Golf Course and starts early in the morning at 8 a.m.
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