The Santa Fe Boys and Girls Cross Country teams completed their season at the 5A-NMAA Cross Country Championships at Albuquerque Academy on Nov. 11. Out of 15 teams, the girls team placed 12th and the boys placed 13th.

Santa Fe High had 13 runners compete at State, 7 boys and 6 girls. The race was 3.1 miles.

The top male runner was Cristiano Rivera, a junior who attends Mandela International Magnet School, with a time of 17:47. Valin Wittenburg and Daniel Busemeyer, both SFHS juniors, also had high-ranked times: Valin ran an 18:27.14, and Daniel ran just behind, at 18:27.49.

Other runners who competed for the Demons were Christopher Severy, an eighth grader from Gonzales Community School; Bodhi Lewis, a Mandela junior; Elias Mendiola, an SFHS sophomore; and Noah Mullins, a Mandela sophomore.

The fastest female runner was Mia Schelmen, a Mandela sophomore, at 21:17. Other notable times were sophomore Ada Armstrong, at 23:10, and Emily Pearson, at 23:19. Senior Analee Auer, junior Shea Novak, and sophomore Claire Kullman also competed.

The teams from Rio Rancho went 1-2-3 in the team title: Rio Rancho High School finished first, followed by Volcano Vista, and then Cleveland High. Rio Rancho also won the girls title, followed by La Cueva and Cleveland.

Coach Graham said he was happy that both teams improved on their District meet placings from last year and that they both qualified for the State Meet. At the same time, he was a little disappointed that some runners ran slower or about the same.

But Coach Graham is already looking forward to 2024. The team is only losing one senior, Analee, to graduation. He is excited about the addition of Nya Griego to the girls’ roster, which he hopes will make the team a contender for the district title. He is also excited about what the boys will be able to do next year returning a full roster.