Port Chester runs the run and does well in Bobcat Cross Country Invitational
October 9, 2024 at 11:43 p.m.
The thing that stands out about Port Chester head cross country coach Cindy Reyes Martinez is that she has not only walked the walk, she has also run the run—and she is letting her team in on what that means with the results in last Saturday's Bobcat Invitational (10/5) showing she knows what she is talking about, not just talking the talk.
About walking the walk: Martinez understands the importance of knowing the distance you are racing so you can pace yourself accordingly because she has run those races herself.
About running the run: She has run those races herself as a former Lady Ram distance running ace who still holds the school record for the 1-mile run at five minutes flat. And she knows the practice it takes to build the power in the legs and stride to run that fast.
Test of stamina
Because you can't run with your mouth, you have to run the race from start to finish.
And there really is such a thing as horses for courses, meaning if you know the terrain, you know when the hills are coming and how to accelerate going up and down hill leading up to the final sprint to the finish line.
So that's why her Port Chester team was one of the first to arrive at Byram Hills well before the 9 a.m. start of the Bobcat Invitational. She wanted to make sure her runners had a chance to walk the course before their races ever started so they knew what was coming.
The costly wrong turns
And if that doesn't sound important, she mentions how course changes in last week's Fred Gressler Invitational in White Plains resulted in runners taking wrong turns resulting in harriers either running too far or cutting the course, deviations that impacted the order of finish in the varsity races.
So ready or not, Port Chester runners knew what was coming in the Bobcat freshman and varsity races covering 1.5 miles and 3 miles respectively. And some did better than others because you get out of distance running what you put into distance running, meaning the miles you run in practice play a vital role in how you do in a race against time, yourself and your rivals.
Marquez leads the way
So junior Santiago Marquez, who ran in triathlons in his native Venezuela and ran varying distances in and around Port Chester over the summer, was once again the Rams’ fastest varsity runner, finishing fourth overall out of 45 runners, clocking 18:32.81, an average of around six minutes per mile, around two minutes behind the winner from Suffern (16:28.27) and just about a minute behind the second and third place finishers from Byram Hills and Horace Greeley (17:29 and 18:01 respectively).
Cindy Reyes Martinez, the Port Chester High School cross country coach.By File Photo
That means Marquez is slowly establishing the credentials that make him a realistic middle distance running candidate for a college athletic scholarship, no small feat for someone who is already the best swimmer in school history and quietly becoming one of its best distance runners as well.
Christopher Zamora is also moving up in class after attending a summer x-country camp over the summer. The results are showing. He ran vastly improved 21:44, finished 28th, but more importantly, cut his time down to where he averaged around seven minutes per mile over the tough Byram Hills course. Anthony Delgado and Ethan Cabrera also showed improvement by running 8-minute well-conditioned miles.
The best of the rest
Alexa Aguiriano led the Lady Rams with a 25:25 finish, putting her in the 8-minute mile category with Abigail Pesantez right behind her. Andy Jimenez was the Rams’ top freshman finisher, covering the course in 11:54, with Jayden Avelar, Sebastian Oliveros and Jencarlos Contreras all running the 1.5-mile distance in under 15 minutes. And if you think that's easy, just try it sometime.
So overall, Martinez was satisfied with her team's results. Marquez keeps getting better. The times keep improving. Nobody got lost. And the traditional carrot cake Byram Hills serves up after the races was delicious. So Martinez, now a language teacher in the Port Chester School District, thinks her team will show similar improvement in the Somers Invitational Sunday (10/13) at 9 a.m.
Her team will get there earlier to familiarize themselves with the course by walking it first so they don't take off into the unknown. They will walk the walk first and then run the run. And they won't need a compass. Or get any carrot cake. But they will get better for the experience.
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