by David Tesitor
JOHN MALL HIGH- Over the past three weeks, the Panthers have been busy putting on the miles. On September 3, the Panthers attended the Rocky Ford Meloneer Cross Country Invitational. Junior High runner Kaytlyn Price ran well and got her first taste of cross country competitive running. Shawn Dieckman placed 15th with a time of 20:19 out of a field of 65 runners. Aaron Martinez and Jacob Tenorio ran back-to-back times of 24:05 and 24:06 placing 52nd and 53rd respectively. For the ladies, Rebekah Tenorio placed 17th with a time of 26:28 out of 46 very strong runners.
On Sept 5, the team traveled to Alamosa for the Joe I. Vigil Open. Freshman Rebekah Tenorio placed a respectable 36th out of a field of 69 runners from all divisions of schools from Colorado and New Mexico with a time of 24:39. Jacob Tenorio placed 87th and Martinez 92nd out of 102 with some directional challenges slowing down their times. Tenorio ran a 26:05 and Martinez a 26:55.
The Panthers’ week was not over yet; they traveled to Lamar on Sat. Sept. 12. The entire team beat their PR′s and came away with two medals. Dieckman placed 9th overall with a PR of 18:25, and Rebekah Tenorio placed 13th with an impressive 23:36 also a PR. Martinez and Jacob Tenorio also did an outstanding job, running their best race of the season with times of 22:27 and 22:28 respectively.
