Sprint to a title: Boys metro cross country race nearly a photo finish

Albuquerque Academy’s Nicholas Ponte, right, and La Cueva’s Nikko Mihan are neck and neck as they near the finish line in the boys Metro Cross Country Championship on Saturday at Nusenda Community Stadium.

The runners take off for the girls Metro Cross Country Championship race Saturday at Nusenda Community Stadium. Eldorado's Gianna Rahmer, center right, won.

James Yodice James Yodice James Yodice Journal Staff Writer

Published October 4, 2025 - 8:37 p.m. Modified October 4, 2025 - 10:40 p.m.

This was a scene you’d more likely witness in a 100-meter dash final at the state track meet.

As it was, it was the defining moment from Saturday’s Albuquerque Metro Cross Country Championships, as La Cueva’s Nikko Mihan and Albuquerque Academy’s Nicholas Ponte combined for what was possibly the greatest finish in the history of the meet.

They sprinted down the final 100 meters inside Nusenda Community Stadium, shoulder to shoulder.

At the line, it was Ponte, by less than the width of his body, edging Mihan in a thrilling close to the boys’ varsity race.

“I haven’t had a good kick this season, so I wanted to see where I was at,” said Ponte, a senior. “I just gave it the best I had and barely beat him.”

That duo was part of a lead pack of nine runners who gained some separation over the first mile. One by one, the others fell off until it was just Ponte and Mihan, who has been one of the metro’s most consistent runners this season.

Close to the long, gradual hill on the south side of the course, it was Mihan who started to gain an edge.

“When we were starting to come down from that big hill, he was starting to drop me a little bit,” Ponte said. “So I just tried to catch up as much as I could.”

They were practically velcroed together at the hip when they entered the stadium for the final 300-meter stretch. Ponte’s winning time was recorded as 16 minutes, 9 seconds, with Ponte’s time listed at 16:10. But in truth, there was not one full second between the two; it was, at most, a couple of tenths of a second.

Ponte was joined by Eldorado sophomore Gianna Rahmer as individual champions on a surprisingly windy Saturday morning on the West Side. This only added to the difficulty on a demanding, curvy dirt course.

“This is probably the course I’m the worst at,” Ponte said, candidly. “If I can win on my worst course, I think I’m in pretty good shape.”

Lucas Espinosa of Cleveland placed third, 30 seconds behind Mihan.

Rahmer, coming off a second-place finish the previous week at the ultra elite Desert Twilight 2025 meet in suburban Phoenix, did what she always does: her long stride allowed her to bolt out to an early lead and simply expanded that lead until she finished the meet inside the Community Stadium track.

Her winning time was 17 minutes, 45 seconds.

It was another 50 seconds back to runner-up Anna Hastings of Academy, who ran second behind Rahmer virtually every step of the way. Hastings’ time was 18:35. Addison Julian, also from Academy (19:11) was third, followed by Rio Rancho’s Mariah Galbraith at 19:21, who won a separate division at the Desert Twilight meet last week.

“It was super fun,” said Rahmer, who remains unbeaten in New Mexico-based prep cross country meets. “This course is pretty tough, with the hills and the sand and the wind. I just wanted to go out there and push myself as much as I could.”

The only new wrinkle for Rahmer were the orange, heart-shaped sunglasses she was wearing — glasses, she admitted with a smile, that she pilfered from a teammate.

Doubtful the teammate minded, seeing as how Eldorado’s girls won the team competition at metros on Saturday. The Eagles scored 70 points, with Academy (76) and Cleveland (79) second and third, respectively.

Academy’s boys also took home the mammoth metro first-place trophy. The top three teams were the Chargers (51), La Cueva (72) and Rio Rancho (77).