By Gary Herron
sports editor

One year after he saw his father’s Rio Rancho High School boys cross country team win its second trophy at the state cross country meet, Hilario “Larry Jr.” Chavez picked up one of his own.

And it wasn’t a green one, symbolizing a third-place finish.

Heck, no. This one was blue, meaning the Lady Rams had won the Class 5A state championship on a gorgeous fall Saturday afternoon.

It was the first cross country trophy of any color for the girls, who were fifth the past two years, fourth the two seasons before that, fifth twice again in 2002 and ’03, and eighth in 2001.

Strangely, the Rams have had an individual champion: Sophomore Danielle Longmire won the first state championship of any sort for RRHS only a few months it opened when she nabbed first place at the Class AAAA state meet in 1997. Obviously lacking the depth of this year’s team, the Rams finished 11th at the state meet 11 years ago.

Sophomore Tamara Lementino, overtaken in the last 20 feet, relegating her from fifth to sixth place, didn’t care very much.

Fifth place, sixth place, it didn’t matter.

0“Gosh, I was mad, but I still finished top-10, which was my goal,” she said. “I’m just glad I got All-State finally. I’ve been wanting this so bad for the past three years – I finally got it.”

Indeed. Lementino’s sixth-place finish in 19:08.4 was nearly a full minute off her 2007 time (20:08.2), when she finished 17th and also was the first Ram to the finish line. In 2006..... READ MORE

Copyright © 2008 Rio Rancho Observer