Metro cross country is a blend of the expected and unexpected

When Gianna Rahmer is in New Mexico, she remains unbeatable.

Meanwhile, the state’s only nationally ranked boys squad was beaten.

Rahmer’s victory, and Cleveland’s boys defeating the nation’s No. 11-ranked team, rival Rio Rancho, highlighted Saturday’s Albuquerque Metro Cross Country Championships at Nusenda Community Stadium.

On an unusually warm morning, Rahmer and Rio Rancho’s Cody Sullivan won individual metro titles, while the Cleveland boys and Rio Rancho girls took home the giant metro team trophies.

Rio Rancho’s boys just entered the DyeStat national rankings earlier this week at No. 11, coming off an outstanding second-place showing at the prominent Desert Twilight meet last weekend in suburban Phoenix.

The Storm finished third, sixth, seventh, 10th and 15th, scoring 41 points. Rio Rancho went 1-2 with Sullivan and Mateo Herrera, but Cleveland was better on the back end, an area, Rams coach Phil Keller said, “where we’re vulnerable, and people know that.”

Rio Rancho scored 57 points. But the Rams, to be fair, were minus their top runner, senior Charlie Vause, who was in Indiana on Saturday for a meet.

“You know it’s been exciting for us,” Keller said. “They earned it … and we’re excited about it. But today proves, rankings are just that. They’re not gonna (tell you) who’s gonna finish first, you have to go out there and prove it every day. And so today we didn’t prove it.”

Sullivan’s time of 16 minutes, 7 seconds was 14 seconds ahead of Herrera.

“Me and Mateo, we went out hard, we stayed in the front and we just kept on trying to start hard on the hills and keep our pace,” Sullivan said. “We worked really hard together and kept pushing each other all the way to the finish.”

It was Sullivan’s second victory of the season, following the opening meet of the year at Cleveland.

The Storm were terrific, led by Vince Madalena who was third, Lucas Espinosa sixth, Antwon Shendo seventh and Lucas Peña 10th.

Cleveland coach Kenny Henry admitted that the absence of Vause was significant, but also noted the following:

“Our boys raced significantly better than the last few times we raced Rio Rancho,” he said. To wit: At the Rio Rancho Jamboree two weeks ago, he mentioned that the Rams had five runners cross the finish line before the first Cleveland runner.

Sullivan said the Rams were thrilled this week to have been nationally recognized.

“We’re all super happy, very excited,” he said. “Even though today was a rough day for us and we didn’t win, we are really excited to showcase what we got.”

Said Herrera: “We’re grateful for (the ranking), now we have to keep it.”

Rahmer, the Eldorado High freshman, went right to the front in her race and stayed there, which is more or less how she does things.

She placed third last weekend in the elite division of the aforementioned Desert Twilight, but against New Mexico competition, she’s won every race in her 1½ varsity seasons.

“It was hard, for sure, much sandier than I thought,” Rahmer said. Indeed, there was a secondary issue that probably nobody could have planned for: the pacesetting ATV on the course was, more or less, forcing Rahmer to eat a whole lot of dust over the course of 3.1 miles. “But I knew I had to get out quick, so that’s what I tried to do. It was definitely a tough course.”

Rahmer’s winning time was 18:47. Sandia Prep’s Kate Henderson ran a strong second, finishing 23 seconds behind (19:10).

“(The season) is going good,” Rahmer said. “I’m real excited for state, and the Extravaganza, and I’m really hoping my team is feeling the same way. I think we’re all growing together and I’m super excited.”

Rio Rancho beat Cleveland 63-70; Abigail Beam, in fourth, led the Rams. Academy finished third and fourth with Addison Julian and Anna Hastings.

The next major meet on the calendar is the pre-state Extravaganza at Albuquerque Academy in two weeks, as the state’s top runners get a look at the course that will be used for state early next month.

Boys Top 10

1, Cody Sullivan, Rio Rancho, 16:07

2, Mateo Herrera, Rio Rancho, 16:21

3, Vince Madalena, Cleveland, 16:28

4, Nicholas Ponte, Albuquerque Academy, 16:47

5, Nikko Minhan, La Cueva, 16:48

6, Lucas Espinosa, Cleveland, 16:58

7, Antwon Shendo, Cleveland, 16:59

8, Tyler Wright, Cibola, 17:11

9, Liam McKee, Albuquerque Academy, 17:15

10, Lucas Pena, Cleveland, 17:17.

Girls Top 10

1, Gianna Rahmer, Eldorado, 18:47

2, Kate Henderson, Sandia Prep, 19:10

3, Addison Julian, Albuquerque Academy, 19:37

4, Anna Hastings, Albuquerque Academy, 20:16

5, Abigail Beam, Rio Rancho, 20:40

6, Micah David, Cleveland, 20:48

7, Brooke Kelly, St. Pius, 20:51

8, Shahad Akasha, Cleveland, 20:53

9, Giuliana Simone, La Cueva, 20:57

10, Mariah Galbraith, Rio Rancho, 21:02.

See Metro Cross Country runners give it their all