Runners to highlight weekend

It’ll be a distance running festival on Saturday morning in Las Vegas, as athletes from area middle schools on up to the collegiate level will be doing their thing at New Mexico Highlands’ Gene Torres Golf Course to highlight another busy sports weekend.

The NMHU XC Jam and the Meadow City Invitational will share the course beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday; the event is free and open to the public.

Individual races are tentatively scheduled as follows: high school junior varsity girls, 8:30; JV boys, 9; college women, 9:30; high school varsity girls, 10; college men, 10:30; high school varsity boys, 11; and middle school boys and girls, 11:30. Start times are approximate and subject to change.

Of particular interest is the Highlands men’s team, which is ranked 27th in the nation among NCAA Division II men’s cross country programs. The Cowboys, coached by 21st year mentor Bob DeVries, are also rated sixth in the South Central region, regarded as the toughest in the country. Both the national and regional polls were released on Tuesday by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Mora native Henrique Chavez and Ismael Samano have been leading the way for the Cowboy harriers.

All three local football teams take to the road this weekend.

New Mexico Highlands looks to continue its winning ways with a trip to league rival Colorado Mesa; the Cowboys (3-1, 2-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) and Mavericks (1-3, 1-1) kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo. NMHU is tied with preseason favorite Colorado State-Pueblo (4-0, 2-0) and Chadron State (3-1, 2-0) for first place in the RMAC. Adams State, Colorado School of Mines, Western New Mexico and Colorado Mesa are a game back at 1-1 in the league standings.

Meanwhile, both Robertson (1-3) and West Las Vegas (0-4) look for relief after a rugged early schedule on the gridiron. The Cardinals play at struggling Class 4A Capital (0-4) on Friday night in Santa Fe. The Dons visit Pojoaque Valley (1-3 after beating Shiprock 27-14 last weekend) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

In other prep sports of note, the Robertson soccer teams spend Saturday in Bloomfield, West volleyball treks to Española Valley, and RHS volleyball takes part in a Sandia Prep tournament in Albuquerque.

Spikers from Mora and Pecos host Escalante and Dulce, respectively, on Friday and Saturday.

The NMHU women’s soccer team (2-6, 0-4) is back home for two matches this weekend. The Cowgirls host Colorado State-Pueblo (1-5-1, 1-3) at 7 p.m. Friday, then hold a 2 o’clock matinee with Adams State (4-4, 2-2) on Sunday.