Moriarty's Dorsey-Spitz breaks a Rahmer record

Here’s something no one has been able to write about Gianna Rahmer since she began her varsity running career at Eldorado:

Someone broke one of her records.

Indeed, Moriarty junior Carmen Dorsey-Spitz on Saturday morning not only captured the Class 4A title at the Albuquerque Academy Cross Country Extravaganza, she broke a course record previously established by Rahmer.

Dorsey-Spitz sprinted down the home stretch inside Richard A. Harper Memorial Stadium, and her fantastic winning time was 16 minutes, 47.09 seconds.

Rahmer set the record, 16:58, as an eighth-grader at the state meet; she and Dorsey-Spitz are the only two girls to finish in under 17 minutes around this 3-mile mostly dirt course at the Academy.

“Not when I finished,” Dorsey-Spitz said, asked if she was aware of breaking the course record. “But when I saw my coach and looked at the clock, I was very excited.”

Her goal for the day, she said, was 17 minutes.

“And it just went better,” Dorsey-Spitz said, smiling wide. She said she started running really only two years ago and became competitive at it just last season. “It was a good surprise.”

She looked exceptionally strong as she finished the race, and that was by design.

“I was just more determined,” she said. “This time, I wanted to show off my hard work, to tell myself that I could do it. I’ve been stuck in the 17:30s, had a few bad races.”

Not all were bad. Dorsey-Spitz garnered attention earlier this season when she finished just 20 seconds behind Rahmer head-to-head at the University of New Mexico Invitational at UNM North Golf Course. No New Mexico runner has raced Rahmer that close the last three seasons.

“She’s been my role model,” Dorsey-Spitz said of Rahmer, who is younger than Dorsey-Spitz by a year. “It’s mind boggling how fast she is, and then today when I broke (her record), I never expected to come close.”

Ramher herself was the 5A winner Saturday, but her time (17:04.10, in a race that occurred four hours later and in much warmer weather) was 17 seconds slower than Dorsey-Spitz.

“She’s super amazing,” Rahmer said of Dorsey-Spitz. “I have not gotten the chance to talk to her too much, but … she’s obviously an amazing runner. I’m super proud of her. It’s too bad we don’t race (each other) more often.”

Academy’s Anna Hastings (18:04.19) and Addison Julian (18:42.26) were next in the 4A individual standings after Dorsey-Spitz.

Los Alamos’ girls, with 30 points, were the team champions. The Hilltoppers finished fifth through ninth, although for team scoring purposes it was fourth through eighth. Ensley Jorgenson (19:16.86) was the top Los Alamos finisher, in fifth.

Academy (60) and Miyamura (132) were the next-best teams after Los Alamos.

Dorsey-Spitz was one of eight individual champions Saturday on a beautiful and breezy day at the Academy, as over 1,300 athletes and over 100 teams gathered for what is basically the dress rehearsal for the state meet over this same course on Nov. 8.

The other 4A individual winner was Nicholas Ponte of Academy, who added the Extravaganza title to his Albuquerque metro championship from two weeks earlier.

He finished inside his home stadium in 15:18.38.

Billy Romero of Taos, who is having an excellent season, ran second to Ponte, with a time of 15:34.04. And Romero was well in front of third-place finisher Diego Friedrich of the Chargers. Ean Elias of Valencia ran fourth.

Academy had a dominant team showing, scoring 26 points. St. Pius (80) and Los Alamos (89) closed out the top three.

CLASS 5A: Rahmer, in capturing this meet for the third time in as many seasons, had her typical runaway performance. She finished 1 minute, 37 seconds in front of Rio Rancho’s Mariah Galbraith (18:41.91). Alina Trujillo-Sando of Cleveland finished third.

She knew Dorsey-Spitz had broken her course record and wanted to gain it back.

“That’s the goal,” she said, “but it’s hard to race people when they’re not actually in your race. It’s fun to have my records broken, too.”

The Storm’s 63 points were lowest in the field, just eight points ahead of Eldorado. La Cueva (105) was in third place.

Senior Nikko Mihan of La Cueva picked a great time for his first major victory. His results had been solid throughout the season, with second-place showings at key meets like Cleveland, at UNM, and two weeks ago at metros where he finished almost in a dead heat with Ponte.

“I knew if (we) got the right race, it would be close, and it was today,” Mihan said. “I was just happy to see that I could pull it off.”

His 15:22.80 bested two Cleveland athletes: Lucas Espinosa (15:36.77) and Lucas Pena (15:51.75).

The Storm boys, like the girls, walked away with first place. The Storm’s 49 points put them 24 points in front of rival Rio Rancho and La Cueva, who both scored 73 points.

CLASS 3A: Junior Elijah England of Navajo Prep and senior Sophie Bair of Santa Fe Prep were the individual winners in Class 3A.

England’s time was 15:31.10, and his margin of victory was larger than any winner Saturday not named Dorsey-Spitz or Mihan. Runner-up Brian Madalena of Santa Fe Indian School was 74 seconds (16:44:04) behind, with Kenai Begay of Navajo Prep third.

Navajo Prep (30) and SFIS (45) were 1-2 in the team standings, with Tohatchi (93) third.

Bair (18:34.90) and her Santa Fe Prep teammate Pippa Barrett (19:27.50) were the top two finishers in 3A girls, and the Blue Griffins, with 30 points, topped the team standings.

Cottonwood Classical Prep was second with 68 points, and junior Ariana Chavez from the Coyotes was third (20:01.96). Navajo Prep was the third-place team.

CLASS 1A-2A: Sophomore Olivia Marquez from Albuquerque’s Oak Grove Classical Academy was the only girl to break the 20-minute barrier as she placed first. Marquez is a multiple champion at this event; and hit the finish line in 19 minutes, 37.95 seconds.

Trista Chavez of Jemez Valley (20:22.49) was next, and Mia Smith of Laguna-Acoma finished third.

Oak Grove, with Kalena Goldie placing seventh (fifth for team scoring purposes), earned the team title, with 48 points. McCurdy (92) and Native American Community Academy (107) were second and third, respectively.

Tagoya Pedro of Laguna-Acoma, probably the state’s top distance runner among the smaller schools , ran to victory in the day’s first race, and his margin of victory was wider than anybody’s.

He completed the course in 15 minutes, 42.36 seconds. Pecos had the next two finishers in Brandyn Encinias (15:57.60) and Carlos Ragland. And that propelled the Panthers (42 points) to first place in the team standings.

Laguna-Acoma (92) and Oak Grove (109) were next; Malakai Goldie of the Owls was fourth overall, with Brayden King of Menaul fifth.