Boulder Running Company/Colorado Track XC Athletes of the Week
Michael Cernoia - Pueblo West
Krystel Martinez - Pueblo Centennial
Special to Colorado Track XC by Phil Latter
Week 2
In a state known for the ski slopes of the Rocky Mountains, ruins of Mesa Verde, and cosmopolitan trappings of Denver, it can be easy to overlook the blue collar, steel mill city of Pueblo, Colorado. For one weekend, though, the Home of Heroes showed just what their town has to offer.
For their record-setting performances at last weekend’s Bulldog Invitational, Pueblo Centennial’s Krystel Martinez and Pueblo West’s Mike Cernoia both earned Boulder Running Company/Colorado Track XC Athlete of the Week honors.
“It was really sweet,” says Martinez of victories in both the shot and discus, the latter a stadium record. “I was pretty pumped going into the meet.”
Martinez had ample reasons to be confident. A series of max lifts in weightlifting class had given her newfound confidence in the shot. A throw of 37’3” – more than a foot farther than she threw at last season’s State Meet – only added to it.
“I shoulder pressed 210 pounds on Friday,” she says. “I was pretty close to getting 220, but I messed up.”
One thing Martinez did not mess up was her attempts in the discus ring. After debuting with a mark of 134’6”, last year’s third place finisher at State has her eye on the prize this season.
“My small goal for the next few weeks is 140 [feet],” Martinez says. “But for State I want to be around 150 so I can give [defending champion Kiah Hicks] a run for her money. I know she’s gunning for the state title, but I’m not gunning for a state title, I’m gunning for her.”
For a change, Martinez will no longer have to drive up the I-25 corridor to be challenged at invites. The off-season transfer of 3A throwing champion Megan Patterson to Pueblo South means Martinez will have yet another 4A contender right in her own backyard.
“I’m looking to really set the bar high for Megan Patterson coming in,” she says of a rivalry that will take on a whole new meaning this season. Their first battle will take place later this season in La Junta.
Plenty of 4A distance runners will be looking to battle with Cernoia. By running a 4:21 1600m, in addition to a pair of 1:59 800s (the first one, a split on the 4x800m relay, was stricken from the records after his team was disqualified), the Pueblo West senior has set himself up as an early contender for all three 4A distance event titles. But with competition like NXN qualifier Spencer Wenck in the mix, Cernoia knows this will be no small task. Perhaps that explains his lofty goals for this season.
“Originally I wanted to get as close to 4 minutes as I could for the mile,” he says, “but taking 21 seconds off from a mile from the beginning of the season to the end is pretty tough. Now it’s more like I’d be happy with [something] between 4:10 and 4:15. In the two-mile I’d like to get as close to 9:00 as possible, somewhere between 9:10 and 9:20. And then in the 800, as close to 1:48 or 1:49 as possible. Definitely under 1:53.”
In the meantime, setting a stadium record in the 1600m and earning a victory in the 800m has given the Western State-bound Cernoia confidence moving forward with his season.
“I was pretty happy,” he says. “I was excited it was that fast. I didn’t think my first race of the year was going to be a PR.”
But to move from contender to victor takes a long-term, patient approach. Unfortunately for the rest of 4A, it is one Cernoia embraces.
“Honestly, right now I’ve been doing mostly distance runs and getting that good endurance and base,” he says. “Now I’m starting to do more speed work. I’m really just counting on being healthy and working as hard as I can to get to that next level.”