Behind returning stars, Green Valley cross country optimistic for 2016

On July 31, Mia Smith was competing in the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships in Sacramento, California. On Aug. 1, her first day back in Las Vegas, she contacted her high school cross country coach about running. Bud Beam had to tell her to take a breather.

“She wanted to know what the workouts were,” Beam said. “She wanted to run with the team.”

None of that would have been the case a year ago. The past 12 months have been a remarkable evolution for Smith, now a sophomore at Green Valley High School. She always has been a runner, competing with a local track club, but had never competed in long distance.

So when she got to high school in her freshman year, she decided to give it a shot.

“I came in never with any cross country experience, and that was my first time running more than a mile,” Smith said. “You can tell throughout the season, it was ideal, it was what you wanted to teach me to improve.”

To say it was a successful rookie season would be an understatement. She won the 2015 region championship by 18 seconds.

“I didn’t have that much experience and I felt so good in that race,” Smith said. “It was a sense of, how do I describe it? It boosted everything, it felt really good.”

Smith returns in 2016 to lead a girls cross country team with hopes for back-to-back region titles. The problem is, she may not have much help.

Aside from Smith and senior Amy Amezcua – who finished sixth in region – Green Valley’s roster was decimated by graduation, losing three of its top five finishers from the 2015 regionals. But Smith wouldn’t be a leader if she wasn’t optimistic about her team’s chances.

“I think we look strong,” Smith said. “We have a young team, and I think we have a lot of potential.”

Luckily for Beam and the cross country program, the boys team is just the opposite. The team returns almost everyone. Last year’s star runner, Austin Rogers, graduated and is running at Tennessee-Martin, but the Gators still have a star in the making in senior Lenny Rubi.

Rubi finished second in last year’s region championship to Rogers and seventh in state, making him the top returning runner in the region. He will compete for the top spot along with Omar Rubio, who did not run last year because of injuries and is expected to fight for a region title.

“Only losing two seniors and having one more jump in there that wasn’t on last year’s roster, it will be a really strong squad,” Beam said.

A former competitive swimmer, Rubi got into cross country running as part of triathlon training. Once he realized he had a knack and desire to run, he focused on the track and less on the pool. His time in the water is used to keep in shape year-round for running, though he stays conditioned in his own way.

“What I always do, I train slower at the beginning of the season and save the peak for the end,” Rubi said. “This year, that’s what we’re focusing doing, too.”

Along with the Rubi-Rubio connection, the Gators also have senior Dartanyon Jones as well as juniors Milton Amezcua and Jesus Narciso. It will take all of them to get to Green Valley’s ultimate goal.

“Of course we want to win state as a team,” Rubi said. “Our goal is to get a perfect score, one through five.”

Justin Emerson can be reached at jemerson@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @J15Emerson