The victorious Hilltopper Girls. From left, Grace Montoya, Cara Gauss, Elisabeth McNiff, Mila Moseley, Abigail Swigert, Ensley Jorgenson, Amelia Hill, Elizabeth Buck, and Emmeline Keller-Moore. Photo by Blake Wood/ladailypost.com
Abigail Swigert, closely followed by Mila Moseley, digs deep with only 600 m to the finish. Mila and Abigail finished in 7th and 8th places overall, respectively. Photo by Blake Wood/ladailypost.com
By BLAKE WOOD
Assistant Coach
LAHS Track and Field
The Hilltopper Girls Cross Country team turned in a dominant performance on Saturday at the Albuquerque Academy Extravaganza. This meet is set up as a dry-run for the November 8th State Championship on the same course, pitting teams against their in-class competition (i.e., Los Alamos ran against only 4A teams) and adhering to the same schedule of races. The only difference was that nine runners competed for each team on Saturday, rather than seven at the Championship. Each team’s score was determined by their top-5 finishers, as usual.
The ‘Topper Girls won the 4A competition by a score of 30-60 (low score wins) over Albuquerque Academy, and posted the fastest average time across all classes. In a remarkable exhibition of pack-running, their five scorers finished within 26 seconds, led by Ensley Jorgenson in 5th place and a time of 19:16 for the relatively flat 5k course. She was closely followed in places 6, 7, 8, and 9 by Elisabeth McNiff (19:18), Mila Moseley (19:20), Abigail Swigert (19:29), and Emmeline Keller-Moore (19:42). Grace Montoya, Amelia Hill, Cara Gauss, and Elizabeth Buck rounded out the team. McNiff, Swigert, and Gauss all posted lifetime 5k PRs.
The Hilltopper Boys finished 3rd overall, scoring 89 points, just 9 points behind St. Pius X with 80 points. Albuquerque Academy won with 26 points. Top finisher Kaj Maupin ran a career PR of 16:14, placing 5th overall. Koen Christensen demonstrated his recovery from some nagging injuries by placing 14th in 16:44. They were followed by William Hudlemeyer, Cole Luscher, and Emmitt Tibbetts, finishing nearly shoulder-to-shoulder around 17:22 in places 24, 25, and 26. Gus Ovaska, Oliver Mosby, Hiro Mertes, and Sam Prada completed the team.
The Hilltopper Home Meet will be held on Friday afternoon of this week at the Los Alamos Golf Course. Racing starts with the JV Girls at 3 p.m., followed by JV Boys, the Elementary School Mile at 4:10, and the Varsity Girls and Boys races at 4:30 and 5:05 p.m., respectively. As usual, many LAMS XC runners, including most of the Middle School State Champion team, will be competing in Hilltopper uniforms for the first time in the JV races.
Koen Christensen, Kaj Maupin, and Cole Luscher negotiate the crowded start. Kaj and Koen were the first two Hilltopper finishers in 5th and 14th places, respectively. Photo by Blake Wood/ladailypost.com
Oliver Mosby and Emmitt Tibbetts pace each other at the one-mile point of the 5k course. Emmitt and Oliver finished in 26th and 33rd places respectively, in a field of 170. Photo by Blake Wood/ladailypost.com
