Socorro Stampede - Socorro and Alamo XC runners compete

Friday, Oct. 3, was a dry and sunny fall day in Socorro, but above average temperatures and some extra wind made for less-than-ideal running conditions. Socorro’s cross country course is already known to be a more challenging one among courses in the state that XC teams compete at.

Cross country teams from 10 schools and 10 different New Mexico cities, including the Alamo Cougars XC teams, traveled to join Socorro teams at the Socorro Sports Complex and Rodeo Grounds last Friday.

Alamo Cougars

The Cougars came to Socorro ready to run on Friday. The Cougars got a top-ten individual finisher in both the boys and girls varsity races, and the boys varsity team placed sixth out of eight teams in their race. Saving the best for last, the middle school girls dominated the final race with a first place team finish: three of the top five and four of the top ten in that race were Cougars.

“The athletes did wonderfully. I was proud of every single one of them. That fire that I lost for coaching since my brother passed came back that Friday. I am looking forward to what they can accomplish in the coming weeks. Again I am proud of all the runners.” Alamo Head Coach Ira Pino said.

These Cougars are younger runners with bright futures. The incredible middle school girls team has six runners, and the boys middle school team has three runners. They did not have any runners in the JV races, because their varsity teams have two eighth graders, three ninth graders, and two 10th graders. While they have a complete varsity boys team with six runners, their only varsity girls runner, Ania Torres, is a freshman. That didn’t stop her from a fourth place finish though.

“Ania is happy with her current progress she’s been making week after week with her overall placings. She’s excited to go to districts to qualify for state. Her goal is ultimately to improve from her last year’s finish of 41st. She feels confident that she is on track to make a big improvement from last year. With volleyball districts coming up, she is going to be traveling a lot and will be doing additional workouts to keep up with her XC demands and goals.” Obed Torres, Ania’s father, said.

Alamo notable results (times in minutes:seconds):

Varsity boys 5K run:

Eighth-Pherrell Herrera 19:39.70

Varsity girls 5K run:

Fourth-Ania Torres 23:19.70

Middle school girls 2,700 m run:

First-Lakaya Secatero 12:42.10

Second-Jael Guerro 12:47.40

Fifth-Mckia Apachito 13:18.70

Ninth-Skylene Vicente 13:46.10

See complete results here:

https://nm.milesplit.com/meets/702413-socorro-stampede-2025/results

Socorro HSXC and MSXC

The Socorro teams admitted that they were tired heading into their own home meet. Many of the runners spent the previous weekend in Arizona racing at the Desert Twilight event in Mesa, and being the host for an event also takes a lot of extra work and effort.

“The day went really smoothly from an organizational standpoint. I’m grateful for our volunteers who do a fantastic job with the timing and other details that come up. The team as a whole ran a little flat, which is not surprising given that we just returned from a big weekend in Arizona.” Head Coach Beth Cadol said.

Runners may not have posted season best times at the Socorro Stampede cross country meet, but everyone ran the same courses that day. They showed up, tried hard, and posted some solid finishes. The boys varsity team placed fourth out of eight teams for their race, while the varsity girls teams placed second out of six teams despite the challenges.

“Even still, our varsity girls hung on for second place thanks to gutsy efforts by our 3-4-5 runners who came in as a pack. And we had some really exciting races from Rylan, Daniel, Paul, Aria and Stella, who ran close to their season bests in the heat and wind. Our course is not a fast course by any means, so to run close to a season best is really impressive.” Cadol said.

Socorro notable results:

Varsity boys 5K run:

Third-Kyle Berger 18:20.30

Varsity girls 5K run:

Sixth-Abby Cadol 23:28.00

JV girls 5K run:

Fifth-Sasha Zagrai 26:59.60

Seventh-Kailyn Woods 27:59.10

10th-Stella Candeleria 29:37.50

Middle school boys 2,700 m run:

Second-Tracer Montoya 11:19.00

See complete results here:

https://nm.milesplit.com/meets/702413-socorro-stampede-2025/results