Alamogordo Cross Country Teams Take Third at Centennial Meet

LAS CRUCES — The Alamogordo Tigers cross country program turned in a pair of strong team performances Saturday, with both the girls and boys squads finishing third at the Centennial Meet in Las Cruces.

Girls Race

Aurora Van Beusichem led the way for the Lady Tigers, crossing the line in sixth place with a time of 23:14.07. Alex Simmons was close behind, earning a top-10 finish in 10th place at 24:13.80.

Rounding out the Alamogordo girls’ scoring effort were Nizhoni Castillo in 17th (26:32.70), Genesis Sayas in 22nd (28:47.11), and Siena Cass in 27th (31:11.65).

Boys Race

On the boys’ side, Zachary Swayzee paced the Tigers with a ninth-place finish, clocking in at 18:58.92. Hayden Miller followed in 16th place with a time of 19:47.53.

Nicholas Spataro placed 22nd (20:29.05), Keegan Reese took 29th (22:28.25), Austin Amberson finished 34th (23:55.39), and Nickolas Starkovich came in 41st (24:56.24) to complete the Tigers’ effort.

Building on Fort Stanton

Saturday’s showing continued the momentum from the previous week’s season action at the Fort Stanton Meet, where both Alamogordo and Mescalero Apache runners competed.

At Fort Stanton, Alex Simmons delivered the top Alamogordo girls’ finish of the day, taking third place in 26:59, with Van Beusichem right behind at 28:01. Jocelyn Pittman added a 10th-place finish (29:42), followed by Genesis Sayas in 30th (33:12), Faith Wiggins in 40th (38:00), Melody Wiggins in 42nd (40:05), Ashtyn Bird in 44th (41:13), and Gizelle Medrano in 52nd (50:05).

For the Alamogordo boys at Fort Stanton, Swayzee led with a fifth-place finish in 21:59, and Miller took ninth at 22:59. Keagan Reese placed 39th (27:34), Austin Amberson 41st (27:52), Chase Bailey 48th (28:54), Nikolas Starkovich 49th (28:58), Calvin Khan 59th (30:53), Elias Pike 60th (30:53), Clayton Nevin 74th (35:51), Ryan Woods 76th (35:15), and Caleb Simmons 85th (40:46).

Mescalero Apache at Fort Stanton

The Mescalero Apache girls were led by Caydence Botella in 25th place (32:27), with Ellie Gallerito taking 34th (35:59) and Abigail Botella finishing 53rd (54:02).

For the Mescalero Apache boys, Travien Comanche paced the team in 20th place (24:56), followed by Damien Valdez in 23rd (25:14), Karin Fernando in 55th (29:51), Eustine Chino in 68th (32:28), Ricardo Yuzos in 75th (35:14), Tyberius Connie in 80th (38:18), and Soren Monogye in 82nd (38:22).

Up Next

Both Alamogordo squads return to competition on Saturday, September 12, when they travel to Ruidoso for their next meet.

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