Jumbo wins 1st, Chinle girls run perfect race

(Times photo - Candace Begody)

Tuba City's Billy Orman sprints to the finish to win individual honors at the Division III, Section II cross-country meet in Flagstaff. Orman finished first with a time of 15:10.

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Coaches were concerned their teams would automatically be placed out of the running for a state title but, in fact, teams from the northern region dominated at the first-ever Division III Section II meet at Buffalo Park here. The division includes teams from the former 3A North region and some 4A schools.

The top 20 runners and top 10 teams will make a trip to the state meet this weekend at Cave Creek, Ariz.

Girls

Chinle's two-time defending state champion Rolonda Jumbo, a junior, finished in style capturing the win with a time of 18:53, about 15 seconds ahead of Flagstaff's Tatiana Gillick.

Jumbo led her team to an overall score of 51 and the team title, followed by Page with 58 points.

Chinle head coach Shaun Martin said the girls were nothing short of perfect.

"They ran awesome," he said. "They showed how much work we've done all season and it was a great time in the season to run like that. They ran perfect."

Martin said the game plan was for Jumbo to hold back the first two miles, stay in sight of the No. 3 and 4 runners, and for the back runners to key off of Jumbo. Then the last mile was all Jumbo.

"I wanted her to run with the leader," Martin said, "but just enough for the rest of the girls to see her and to key off her. She then took the last mile and ran it hard."

Scoring runners for the Wildcats include Dariann Yazzie who placed fourth with a time of 20:01, Angelica Bedonie who finished eighth with a time of 20:06, Stephanie Yazzie clocked a 20:50 and placed 17th and Shaniya Smith finished 22nd and clocked in at 20:55.

Despite illness afflicting most of the Page runners, the Sand Devils still managed to get all scoring runners in the top 20 and finished second to the Wildcats by seven points.

"They were a bit under the weather," said third-year head coach Theo Martin of his girls. "We have a sickness going through the team right now but hopefully by the weekend they'll be ready to race."

Page is the defending state champion but priorities have shifted to simply overcoming the bug.

"We work our kids pretty hard," Theo Martin added, "and their bodies are running so hard. They put so much effort into their running and if a bug comes around it's taking them out quick. It just hit us at the wrong time.

"Hopefully the rest can step up and fill the shoes of those not feeling too well," he added.

The Page coach said while the healthy ones are running the workouts, those unable to race are using bicycles and "at least moving their legs. We're trying to rest the kids but you can't really do anything with them."

Scoring runners for Page included Jayde Secody, who placed fifth with a time of 20:01, Neva Hurley placed ninth with a 20:13, MiKayla Hudgins placed 11th in 20:29, Schaivon Bitter placed 14th in 20:44, and Nicole Douglas was 19th in 20:53.

Boys

Tuba City senior Billy Orman claimed the individual honors clocking in at 15:10 and leading the Warriors to a tie for third place with Mingus Union. Both scored 94 points.

"Billy has been hitting the times we want him to," said coach Arvis Myron of the defending state champion. "The boys were leaving it up to him to do all the work, but they all ran very well and saw what they could do as a team. They want to improve on the sectionals race."

As for the rest of the team, "they did very well," said Myron. "But they are still improving."

Scoring runners for the Warriors included Alonzo Thompson in 16th place with a time of 16:54, Eddie Loughran in 22nd place with a 17:05, Dennis Klain 23rd with a 17:06, and Shawn Tsinnijinnie in 32nd place with a 17:27.

When asked about defending their state title, Myron said, "It'll be a tough race. It's anyone's race now but we're ready to go. We're looking to boost our fifth and sixth man and we just hope to peak at state."

Chinle, the favored team going into the state meet, captured the overall sectional title with a total of 59 points, followed by Flagstaff with 88 points.

"We took a different approach for both the boys and girls teams," said coach Shaun Martin. "I told them it doesn't matter one bit where they're at and where they're racing. We have to focus on ourselves, on our team, and what we can do. Just because someone is labeled 4A doesn't matter.

"It helped a lot and they went in focused," he added. "We were the 3A monsters that everyone wanted to slay. They have one more chance at state. The athletes are very confident with where they are but they're still focused."

Scoring runners for the Wildcats include Searle Tracy in second with 15:47, Jonathan Yazzie in fourth with 15:59, Derrick Joey in 13th in 16:44, Charles Manymules 14th with a 16:49, and Michael Shirley 26th with a 17:14.

Page was fourth with 121 points, followed by Coconino (152), Holbrook (176), Blue Ridge (184) and Window Rock (295) points.

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