Ganado and Page teams top roster as cross country season kicks off

Ganado girls claimed the first place team trophy in the girls cross country race. Stan Bindell/NHO

Ganado girls claimed the first place team trophy in the girls cross country race. Stan Bindell/NHO

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Page’s Bowen Martin and Page Coach McArthur Lane hang out after Martin placed first in the boys race. Stan Bindell/NHO

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Chinle’s Alisa Honyumptewa acceptes her first place medal in the girls cross country while posing with Hopi High Principal Claudia Edgewater and Athletic Director Ricky Greer. Stan Bindell/NHO

POLACCA, Ariz. — Ganado High School won the girls’ cross country race and Page High School won the boys cross country race at the Hopi High Invite Aug. 29 at Bruin Stadium.

Ganado won the girls race with 62 points, Flagstaff grabbed second with 108, Window Rock took third with 118, Tuba City finished fourth with 126 and host Hopi took fifth with 130.

The remaining team scores showed Chinle, sixth, 144; Page, seventh, 146; Many  Farms, eighth, 164; Alchesay, ninth, 176; Valley Sanders, tenth, 213; and Winslow, 11th, 234 points.

Chinle’s Alisa Honyumptewa was the individual champion in the girl’s race with a time of 21:14.6. Hopi’s Jaeda Honani earned second place followed by Flagstaff’s Katrina Vollmer in third.

Ganado took over with Janaya McIntosh taking fourth and teammate Jayla McIntosh finishing fifth. The Ganado championship team included: Kayla Beck, 17th; Camille Uentillie, 18th; Shaunda Yazzie, 21st;  Shannon King, 64th and Shada Golden, 73rd.

The other runners finishing in the top 15 included: Precious Robinson, Pinon, sixth; Victoria Tenpenny, Page, seventh; Taylor Murphy, Window Rock, eighth; Naomi Rustin, Alchesay, ninth; Liyah Begay, Many Farms, tenth; Larrissa Yazzie, Tuba City, 11th; Sydney Marston, Flagstaff, 12th; Nizhoni James, Valley Sanders, 13th; Sofia Bryan, Page, 14th and Kodi Tate, Page, 15th.

Honyumptewa, a 16-year-old junior from Chinle, said winning the individual race was a good workout for the upcoming Peaks Invite. She said her coach told her to run hard the first mile, recover during the second mile and run hard the third mile.

“The heat was alright, but the sand got me,” she said. “When we finished I threw up because I ate pizza before the race. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Honyumptewa said her team ran their potential for this early in the season. She said she ran her potential except for the middle part of the race where she was recovering from the first mile of the race. She said she won the race despite running in old shoes which caused her ankle to be unstable.

Honyumptewa has been running since the sixth grade and last year ran into problems academically because she was focusing too much on athletics.

“It caused me to miss a meet. I don’t want to do that again because I want to get a cross country scholarship to college,” she said.

Honyumptewa plans to attend the University of Oregon to major in physical therapy and health occupations.

For now, she hopes to keep winning cross country races.

“Everyone on the team is counting me for state. With the help of God and the coach we’ll get there,” she said. “I give all praise to God. I’m a Christian.  I get all my support from my family, coaches and church.”

Page High School wins in boys race

Page High School won the boys race with 48 points edging past Tuba City as the Warriors scored 80 points for second place. Chinle took third with 92 points and Flagstaff was fourth with 93 points and Alchesay finished fifth with 115 points. Host Hopi took sixth with 146 points.

The rest of the team scoring showed Ganado, seventh, 191 points; Many Farms, eighth, 214 points, Window Rock, ninth, 223 points; Valley Sanders, tenth, 293 points; Winslow, 11th, 296; Show Low, 12th, 303 and Holbrook, 334.

Bowen Martin from Page was the individual boys champ with a time of 17:47.8 and teammate Dorian Daw took second place. Chinle’s Josiah Tsosie took third place and teammate Isaiah Honyumptea was right behind him in fourth. Page’s Morgan Fowler finished fifth while Tuba City’s Demetrius Daw and Tristan Antonio came in sixth and seventh, respectively.

The other runners finishing in the top 15 were Zac Joyce, Flagstaff, eighth; Justin James, Valley-Sanders, ninth; Alex Yellowhair, Red Mesa, tenth; Aaron Simien, Tuba City, 11th; Jihad Nodman, Hopi, 12th;  Trevor Wilson, Many Farms, 13th; Zack Philpot, Flagstaff, 14th and Reshaun Curley, Ganado, 15th.

Martin, the 16-year-old junior champion from Page, said his victory showed how his summer training paid off. He placed fourth at the same race last year. When arriving at the meet, Martin thought the weather was bad because of the wind, but the wind calmed down during the race. He said the wind was just strong enough to keep him cool.

Martin said he ran to his potential for this early in the school year, but expects to improve as the season goes on.

“It felt good to win because this is the first time I came in first,” he said.

Martin said he pushed his pace at the beginning and in the middle of the race.

“It was smooth and strong,” he said.

Martin praised his coach, McArthur Lane.

“He coached me all of my high school career and he drove me to do my best,” he said.

Martin hopes to gain a cross country scholarship to either Northern Arizona University or Brigham Young University.

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