Cross Country Team begins season in Lovington
By John Earp
Last Saturday at Lovington High School, the Jal Panthers Cross Country Team, consisting of three boys, competed in a large meet with teams from all over the region. Teams were present from Carlsbad, Artesia, Clovis, Hobbs, Hagerman, Lovington and Jal, in basically perfect weather, with just a light breeze.
Santiago Trevino, an 8th grader, placed 66th in the junior varsity 5K race, with a time of 28:28.83. Roy Peugh, also an 8th grader, placed just behind Santiago (67th) with a time of 28:50.70. Kevin Torres, another 8th grader, ran but was not able to complete the course Saturday. Head Coach Joe Cole said he was proud of all his runners for the hard work they’ve put in thus far this season. Kami Satterwhite is the assistant coach for the JHS Cross Country Team. The team has been practicing early every weekday, at 6:00 a.m. for the past several weeks.
Cross Country is generally an unglamorous sport, but all these student-athletes deserve real credit for grinding it out there day by day, in the hope of improving their time in the 3.1-mile run. The small number of kids who want to be a part of the Cross Country Team in many schools is indicative of how few are willing to make the effort and submit to the discipline of running on a regular basis. Last year, Hereford participated in the same meet, and brought something like 70 runners, a real testament to how well the sport could be represented.