11-03-2024 4:56am

District 3-5A Cross Country Results and a Story of Inspiration from District 2-3A

Chris Edwards Editor

The New Mexico Activities Association’s State Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Albuquerque Academy. This weekend across the state was the district cross country meets with a variety of stories to awe and inspire those who admire athletic excellence.

Locally in Cross Country action the Alamogordo Tiger Boys finished 3rd and Girls 4th at Saturday’s District 3-5A Meet in Las Cruces held at Organ Mountain snd hosted by former Alamogordo High School athlete and OM Coach David Nunez.

The Alamogordo Boys team and Adelynn DeBoef qualifyed for next Saturday’s 5A State Meet in Albuquerque.

Individual Results

Boys

Matthew Snyder 13th (17:54.37)

Dakota Suggs 20th (18:39.02)

Austin Stauffacher 21st (18:40.54)

Aaron Borrego 23rd (18:48.53)

Zachary Swayzee 25th (19:00.34)

Rylan Maroon 26th (19:18.27)

Girls

Adelynn DeBoef 2nd (20:07.92)

Zoey Spataro 17th (22:32.91)

Elizabeth Farmer 18th (22:38.81)

Alex Beres 27th (24:03.57)

Elisa Crabtree 28th (24:13.79)

Jocelyn Pittman 30th (24:18.15)

Full 3 -5A District Results can be found at https://nm.milesplit.com/meets/634192-nmaa-5a-district-3-2024/results

Overall 3-5A results showed the District Boys placing...

1 ORGAN MOUNTAIN HIGH 15 1-2-3-4-5 7-8
2 CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHO 53 6-10-11-12-14 15-16
3 ALAMOGORDO HIGH SCHO 93 13-18-19-21-22 23-24
4 LAS CRUCES HIGH SCHO 121 9-25-28-29-30 32-33
5 MAYFIELD HIGH SCHOOL 121 17-20-26-27-31 34-35

Amongst the boys the top 3 finishers were
Organ Mountain dominating the first 5 positions of the race. The top 3 boys finishers were Corbin Coombs with a 14:30.01, Jeron Wisner with a 14:45.67
and Kobe Rodriguez with a 3 16:08.86.

Overall 3-5A results showed the District Girls placing...

1 MAYFIELD HIGH SCHOOL 37 5-6-7-9-10 14-33
2 ORGAN MOUNTAIN HIGH 43 1-3-11-13-15 21-23
3 CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHO 88 4-12-20-24-28 30-31
4 ALAMOGORDO HIGH 90 2-17-18-26-27 29-32
5 LAS CRUCES HIGH 90 8-16-19-22-25

Amongst the girls the top 3 finishers were 1 Ashley Galaz of Organ Mountain with a run of 19:22.31, in 2nd place came in Alamogordo Tigers Adelynn Deboef with a tome of 20:07.92 and in 3rd place Wren Hofacket of Organ Mountain with a time of 20:12.88.

Around the state was a variety of diverse experiences to include the most inspiring story from across the state from District the District 2-3A cross-country meet at the Academy for Technology & The Classics, Santa Fe Prep runner Quin Dry who rebounded from a tragedy of 2 broken legs from a ski accident earlier in the season to end up winning the district meet!

Quin Dry just nine months ago suffered a devastating injury that, if we’re being honest, should have shelved his high school athletics career and caused him undue pain into his late teens and 20s.

On Jan. 21, 2024, Quin Dry was, in his own words, “skiing with a group of friends doing dumb stuff up in the backcountry,” as he told the Santa Fe New Mexican. He was on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains when he pulled a move he would regret. He attempted a front flip and landed awkwardly, his legs partially buried in the snow as his forward momentum put enormous strain on his lower body.

The impact broke both of his legs and required a sustained rescue effort from the ski patrol, who found him in a restricted area not far from the popular Big Tesuque run at Ski Santa Fe.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that, it took hours to get Quin Dry off the mountain and his injuries were far worse than Dry had originally thought.

“I think he knew he’d broken one leg, and as soon as I got to him, I took his ski boot off and, yeah, I could see the bones down there moving around,” said Prep teammate Will Furlanetto. “Everyone covered him in jackets and tried to keep him warm until help got there.”

Dry remembers the pain of that rescue effort. Aside from the punishing cold, he said he was immobilized into a recovery sled that had a rope running along the right side and down his leg. Every little turn, every little bump, every little gravitational shift on the way down the mountain squeezed that rope onto the worst part of his injury.

“That was the worst part, I think,” Dry said. “Easily the most pain I’ve ever felt.”

It wasn’t until Dry was taken off the mountain at around 8:30 p.m. that he learned his other leg, the left one, was fractured. Both tibias were broken; the right leg also had the fibula snapped.

It required immediate surgery as doctors inserted a metal rod to stabilize his lower leg. The scar is still visible just above his right knee.

Dry has emerged as a favorite for the podium at the Class 3A state meet next weekend. He finished third a year ago, and his dominant win Saturday comes on the heels of a fall season in which he has shown no ill effects of that winter day just nine months ago.

Quin Dry's efforts put him squarely in the conversation for the top overall spot at the season’s championship meet and today mskes him sn inspiration for athletes across the state of New Mexico and well beyond.

Congrats to Quin Dry and of course all the participants who inspire and awe spectators and student athletes across the state of New Mexico with each and every race.