By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer

      Cross country teams and individual harriers from throughout the West Side are now in the running for a state title.
       By virtue of their finishes at their respective district meets last week, the boys and girls teams from Cibola, St. Pius X and Bosque School have all qualified for Saturday's cross country state meet at Rio Rancho.
       The Volcano Vista and Valley boys teams also qualified, while Atrisco Heritage Academy, Rio Grande and West Mesa each had athletes advance individually.
       Hot off their first-place finish at the District 1-5A meet, the Cibola boys enter state as one of the favorites for the Class 5A championship. The Cougars dominated their district, placing all five of their scoring runners in the top seven overall. At West Mesa's Hell's Hills course last Thursday, Cibola downed district rival Gallup, 21-54.
       Gallup is the defending Class 5A state champion.
       “I think that we thought the boys could win if they ran well, but, like I've said before about Gallup, you can never ever count them out,” Cibola coach Kenny Henry said.
       Gallup's Donovan Jim took the individual 1-5A title, but Vincent Montoya came in second and was trailed by a pack of Cougars. Cibola had the second-, third-, fourth-, fifth- and seventh-place finishers.
       “We ran really well,” Henry said. “The boys ran tough, and it was a good day for us.”
       On the girls' side, Cibola took 1-5A's final team berth with its third-place finish. The Cougars were paced by Gabby Ellison and Ashley Lovato, who finished second and third respectively.
       District 1-5A host West Mesa didn't qualify a boys or girls team for the state meet, but six Mustang athletes will be going as individuals.
       The top three teams in each district make state as do the top three individuals not representing a qualifying team.
       Valley's boys team qualified for state out of District 2-5A, while Sari Marroquin-Flores will represent the Valley girls as an individual.
       Rio Grande's lone representative at the state meet will be Chelsea Kindt, who will run in the 5A girls race.
       The St. Pius girls will enter Saturday's Class 4A state race as the District 6-4A champion. Tessa Turcotte and Gael Sanchez finished 1-2 individually at district to......
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