Lady Rams' Hurren 21st at state

ALBUQUERQUE — Portales High got its first state Class 4A cross country qualifiers last season. Now, in the program’s third year, the Rams and Lady Rams qualified their teams for state.

Both teams ran shorthanded in Friday’s state event, hosted by Albuquerque Academy. Sophomore Michael Riess and his sister, eighth-grader Hannah Riess, missed the event due to a death in the family while sophomore Zoe Roy couldn’t go after sustaining an ankle injury during a soccer match earlier in the week.

Michael Riess is the boys’ top runner, while the absence of the two girls meant the Lady Rams were unable to field a full squad.

The PHS boys finished 12th with 202 points. Hope Christian took the top three spots and collected the boys’ team title, while Los Alamos had the girls’ champion en route to a team crown.

PHS cross country coach Laura McNeill said she was pleased her squads were able to qualify for state as teams.

“It was a great day,” she said. “We’re happy. This was our goal all along.”

Freshman Emma Hurren just missed out on all-state honors for the Lady Rams, placing 21st overall in a time of 22 minutes, 11.78 seconds. Meantime, the Rams’ top runner was junior Evan Carbajal, who placed 55th with a time of 20:10.86.

Clovis High’s teams were slated to compete in Class 5A state competition on Saturday afternoon.