Elizabeth Reyes and Cora Cannedy had the lead entirely to themselves from a very early stage of the Joe Vigil high school girls race. Photos by Alan Versaw.
It had all the makings of a great match-up of state champions, with regional bragging rights on the line. Taos, New Mexico's defending 4A state champions, drove the 90 or so miles north to clash with Alamosa, Colorado's defending 3A state champions.
3A is more or less to Colorado what 4A is to New Mexico. Taos had a better team last fall, but arguable lost more to graduation than Alamosa. Both teams came in loaded with reasons to be optimistic about this season.
Taos walked away with the championship of the Upper Rio Grande. Okay, scratch that. Taos ran away with the crown of the upper Rio Grande.
For two-thirds of the race, it looked like Alamosa intended to make it a nail-biter to the very end. Taos had places one, two, and three, but Alamosa countered with four, five, and six. That put Alamosa nine points two with two scorers to go...
