Cibola's Montoya wins state title

Bernie Montoya was all alone.

Nothing but green grass was in front of him.

But that's not what the sophomore Montoya was thinking.

“I was hearing the crowd and they were saying, ‘Just go, just go, just go,'” Montoya said. “In my mind, I just saw a mentality where, ‘You know what, he's right behind you. He's on your heels. You got to run away from him.' Even though he's not, I just had that mentality that's he going to catch you.”

The person Montoya was referring to was Phoenix-Brophy's Will Firth, whom Montoya beat by 16 seconds to win the Class 5A-I State Cross Country Championship on Saturday at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix. Montoya's time of 15 minutes, 38 seconds also topped Phoenix-Alhambra's Jorge Martinez, the two-time defending champion.

“Some juniors or seniors dream of becoming a state champion,” Montoya said. “But to do it as a sophomore, it's a gift to do it.”

Heading into the race, Cibola coach Kris Norton said Montoya had created a stir when he beat Martinez and Firth last week at sectionals.

On Saturday, Montoya said Firth attempted to push the pace with about a mile left in the race. The strategy worked somewhat as Martinez was left behind, leaving Firth and Montoya to clash.

But with a half-mile to go, Montoya took off, abandoning Firth in the dust.

“I never looked back,” he said.

Norton added, “He's obviously, at this point, no longer going to be an unknown. He's a tremendous young man. He's the complete package with speed, strength and endurance.”

Another Cibola runner who probably won't be an unknown is Monica Huston, who improved on her 10th-place standing in 2009.

The sophomore Huston finished runner-up behind Phoenix-Xavier's Sarah Fakler. Her second-place finish was still notable, Huston's time of 19:04 was 38 seconds behind Fakler.

“I'm proud of my finish,” Huston said. “I never want to have regrets of ‘I didn't push myself enough.' I think I did this race.”

The difference between Montoya's win and Huston's showing was probably the level of competition, Norton said.

“Sarah Fakler from Xavier is one of the top runners in the nation,” Norton said. “On the boys side, Jorge and Will are tough, but they are not at the same level nationally as Sarah was. It was a different race strategy for Monica. We were able to do some different things with Bernie that we could get away with. But Monica, to ask her to go out with Sarah was asking a lot. We had to try to find a balance in there. We've got our work cut out for us.”

Cibola's boys notched 152 points, good for a fifth-place showing. Phoenix-Alhambra won the boys state title with 102 points.

On the girls side, the Raiders finished outside of the top 10 with 309 points. Phoenix-Xavier's 37 points earned them a state championship.