When Pusch Ridge Christian senior Mali Smith crossed the finish line at the Old Pueblo Invitational on Saturday, her time of 20 minutes 48 seconds represented the slowest winning time of the morning.
The quickly rising temperature didn’t help her cause. Neither did the finally updated 3.1-mile course at Lincoln Park that kept times a few seconds slower than a year ago.
But for Smith, the numbers didn’t matter. All that mattered was the result: her first-ever win.
“Last year Sarah (Macdonald) was on my team so I never really had a chance,” Smith said. “But, this year it’s my time. … Well, it’s my whole team’s time, but I can finally have a chance.”
The Lions took advantage of the opportunity at the eight-race meet that divided runners by class and gender. Pusch Ridge runners won five of the eight events against a field that included more than 700 registered runners from 28 high schools and nine junior highs.
Freshman Kaleb Bowers (18:29.40), sophomore Cayley Hensley (19:57), junior Grace Johnson (20:35) and senior Kyle Cajero (16:50.20) all took first place for the Lions in their respective events.
Pusch Ridge freshman Daniel Lohrman (18:46.20) finished second, and senior Kaylee Bowers (21:22) finished third in their respective events.
“It’s just exciting because you’ve been working and building a program for the past seven years,” Pusch Ridge coach Elmer Yazzie said. “To get to this point, it’s a nice position to be in.”
While Smith was going through the “weird” but “cool” feelings of her first-ever victory, Cajero — the defending Division IV state champion — continued his Southern Arizona dominance. Cajero edged out St. Augustine’s Zach Alderete (16:57.80) and Pueblo’s Christian Santa Cruz (17:00.90) in the closest top-three finish of the day.
The Lions senior said the race provided a tough mental test because he was anxious after senior teammate Micah Spegman recently injured himself. Every little bump or bruise caused red flags for Cajero.
“My mind kept on saying, ‘Second place is all right, third is all right,’” Cajero said. “Somehow I was blessed with the strength to get through it, and I guess I’ll just take the lessons learned from a mental standpoint from this race and move on” to the next race.
The defending state champion didn’t have the best time of the morning, though.
Deng Deng of Cholla finished in first place in the junior race in 16:46, the fastest of the day. Hensley, meanwhile, had the top time for the girls.
Smith, who finished sixth overall at last year’s Division IV state championship meet, is hoping Pusch Ridge can win the state title this season after it finished second last year. However, she also has a less ambitious goal now that she finally tasted victory.
“I want to win again,” Smith said.