• Five Shiprock girls land in the top seven in Bud Davis Invitational.
• McKinzey Allee wins Cortez race easily, her fourth individual win of the season and third straight.
• Kirtland Central boys place fifth without dominant freshman Kashon Harrison.

FARMINGTON — It’s been getting tougher and tougher for the Shiprock girls cross-country team to top what it did the week before, but coach Alice Kinlichee’s bunch managed to do it again Saturday in Tuba City, Ariz.

The Lady Chieftains took first out of seven teams at the Bud Davis Invitational and did so in style, finishing with their fastest pack time of the season at 35 seconds.

“Khadija Lapahie was back from an injury and she got off to a quick start,” Kinlichee said. “She was in second when her teammates caught up to her at the two-mile point and they all paced off each other.”

Lady Chieftains occupied the third-through-seventh-place slots once the race concluded. In order, those runners were Lacey Howe, Destiny Rockwell, T’yana Harry, Lapahie and Cassandra Peters.

The Shiprock boys took third as a team in Tuba City, a spot the boys had to run their hearts out to earn, according to coach Brian Paniagua.

“Tuba city ran really tough and the Pinon Eagles were really tough,” he said. “They packed together really well at the front so for us to get third, I was happy with that.”

Aaron Gould got sixth overall with a time of 17:38 in the three-mile race.

Farmington comes away with dual second-place finishes in Cortez, Allee wins fourth race of the year

The Farmington cross-country teams have enjoyed their time in Colorado this season.

After the boys team took second and the girls third in Mancos, Colo., last week, they each placed second behind Durango’s teams Saturday in Cortez, Colo.

Eight teams ran in each race.

The Lady Scorpions tied Durango for first place, as the scoring was equal for each school’s top five fastest runners. But Farmington lost on the tiebreaker, which went to Durango for boasting the faster sixth-place finisher.

McKinzey Allee has been on fire for Farmington lately, and she stayed hot in Cortez. The freshman won her third straight race and fourth of the year, this one by almost two full minutes. Anastasia Wilkinson came in third for the Lady Scorps.

Danny Hickman, Tanin McDermott and Lucais Martin snagged fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, for a boys team that has been very steady for coach Kevin Deswood all season long.

“The boys team lately has had our most consistent places, concerning team finishing and team results,” he said. “I’m still looking for a fifth runner to catch up to that lead group, but that lead group is doing well.”

The pack time for Hickman, McDermott and Martin was a stellar 30 seconds.

Aztec teams each earn first place in Bloomfield

An off week did a lot of good for Aztec’s cross-country clubs.

With 24 points, the Lady Tigers cruised past the competition in Thursday’s Bloomfield Invitational to earn first place.

It was tougher sledding for the boys, but they still managed to take first with 47 points. Wingate finished right on their heels with 49 points.

On a day where top-runner Elana Kresl did not run because of an Aztec soccer game, four of her teammates filled the void.

Naomi Teasyatwho, Ashlynn Atwood, Liz Amador and Emily Villarrial placed second through fifth in the dominant effort.

Dwight Barton took second on the boys side. Just 33 seconds behind him in third was Andrew Day.

Aztec coach Steve Lanier said Barton and Day have partaken in some friendly competition this season.

“Barton and Day have flip flopped as our fastest runner each week,” he said. “They’re the best of friends until it’s time to toe the line and face off.”

The host Bloomfield teams had their best outings of the season Thursday, as the girls took third and the boys claimed fourth out of six teams each.

Katelin Kosea was the fastest Lady Bobcat, just as she has been for most of the year. She took ninth overall out of 30 runners.

“I’d like to have a few more girls move up,” Bloomfield coach Julian Garcia said of the girls going into next week's meet. “We’re down with a few injuries, but we can move up next week.”

Clayton White took a backseat to a teammate for the first time in 2015, but barely. He placed ninth, less than a second behind freshman Marvin Gus.

“We need to get a better pack time between our No. 3 and 4 runners,” Garcia said of the boys. “It’s just too spread out, we need to close that gap.”

Piedra Vista’s junior varsity squads ran in Bloomfield, as coach Sampson Sage decided to give his varsity teams the weekend off.

Kirtland Central slips up in Zuni without Harrison

When your team is without a runner who has taken either first or second place in all five weeks of the season, some regression is expected.

This was the case for the Kirtland Central boys in Saturday’s Zuni Cross-Country Invitational.

KC coach Lenny Esson said Harrison was sick over the weekend, so he sat the meet out. As a result, the boys placed fifth in the 16-team meet, their lowest placing of the season.

“It makes a big difference when you take out a kid who finishes top two or three every week,” Esson said. “But it’s a next man up mentality. We thought it would be good to let him rest up.”

Aaron Bunny was first for KC Saturday and seventh overall.

The Lady Broncos earned fifth place as well and they were paced, as usual, by LaKyla Yazzie.

Navajo Prep also competed in Zuni, but coach Stephanie McDonald was unavailable for comment on Sunday.

Jake Newby covers sports for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4577.