Demon Cross Country had four runners qualify for the AAAAA state meet: Brock McKinney, Elijah Gonzales, Judith Allison and Maya Holder will compete Nov. 10 at Rio Rancho High School.

On Nov. 2, both the boys and girls varsity teams competed at the District 5-AAAAA meet at Isleta Pavilion; the boys placed fourth in a field of five, and the girls placed last in a field of four.

Coach Peter Graham said, “I thought the season was okay. We lost a lot of kids to graduation last year, so we were young and rebuilding this year. We only had a few athletes that had varsity experience, so for many it was their first year [on varsity].”

Often, one or both of the teams weren’t able to compete in the meets due to a lack of runners.

In the regular season, the boys placed eighth out of 11 at the Belen Adron Gardner Classic, but the girls did not participate. The girls placed eighth out of 13 at the Santa Fe Indian School meet, but he boys did not participate.

In the Capital City Invitational, the boys placed sixth out of 10, and the girls placed fourth out of 10. In the Northern New Mexico Championships, hosted by SFHS and ATC at San Ildefonso Pueblo, the girls placed fourth in a field of seven, and the boys placed last in a field of seven.

JV freshman Bluebird Askan described his experience on the team as “fun” because he really enjoys running. “I love to compete and I love running, so it was a cool experience and hopefully I can soon play varsity,” he said.