NMMI Sports Press
The Colt and Lady Colt Cross Country squads competed at the Class 3A State Championships at Albuquerque Academy on Saturday, where junior Jake Hayes and senior Mary Kathryn Olvera were the top finishers for the Institute.
Hayes finished the three-mile course in 47th place out 92 runners with a time of 19:01.50, three minutes behind state champion Landen Sandoval from St. Michael’s.
As a team, the NMMI boys finished 12th with an average time of 20:13.10 among the seven runners.
On the girls’ side, Olvera came in 59th out of 83 competitors with a time of 23:22.84, about five minutes behind state champion Chloe Grieco from St. Mike’s.
Olvera reflected on her four-year XC journey, which began reluctantly at the urging of longtime NMMI multi-sport coach and former Olympian Jan Olesinski.
“I’ve done pentathlon since middle school, but I was running because I had to run. I didn’t want to do cross country and it was really difficult at first, but I fell in love with it,” she said. “We all share the same pain and by the end of the year, the team is really close.”
Olvera still has a swimming and track season with Olesinski and could return to the Institute as a junior college runner next fall, but she knows her remaining time with the bronze-winning pentathlete from Poland is valuable and she’s soaking up every minute.
“I think I’ve called coach Jan dad three times this season and it’s really awkward, but I do see him more than my own dad, and he really is the dad of the cross country, swimming and track teams,” she said with a chuckle. “He’s still excited every year about our improvement or new people coming in. If you’re not a runner, he’ll make you into one.”
Olvera said the last couple seasons have been challenging with so few Lady Colt runners, but she’s learned to embrace her small team, which this year consisted of herself and senior Isabella Moya, who finished 66th, about a half minute behind Olvera.
“It’s hard without a group of teammates motivating you, but our team of two is really good,” she said. “I took two minutes off my time from last year and I’m really happy with that. As a senior looking back, the last four years were awesome.”
Despite finishing in the back half of the field, Olesinski was pleased with his teams’ effort throughout the season.
“It was a tough season, the weather made it hard for the kids to train. It’s 100 degrees at 3:30 when we can train, while other schools can run in the mornings or other days,” Olesinski said. “But our kids are not just athletes or students, they are cadets and they are always involved in something else. They are great students and work hard with the time they have.”
Throughout his 36 years at NMMI, Olesinski has coached many local athletes from as young as seven up through junior college, helping funnel those Roswell kids into the Institute. Some of those athletes end up back at NMMI to coach.
“When they are seven or eight they come to swim with me and then we start to do pentathlon,” he said. “I have most of them for three sports, all year so I love them all. Where they place is not most important. I always tell them, what’s most important is not what’s on your wall, but what’s in your heart.”
For full results from the Class 3A boys and girl state championship races, go to https://nmmiathletics.com/sports/mxc-hs/2023-24/files/23XCBoysStateResults.pdf and https://nmmiathletics.com/sports/wxc-hs/2023-24/files/23XCGirlsStateResults.pdf.