Wings of America set to take flight, again, at USATF XC Championships

By Mary Albl of DyeStat 

For Wings of America, it’s business as usual this weekend.

The organization which “strengthens Native youth and their families through running” will compete Saturday in the USATF Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla., vying for the program’s 29th and 30th team titles.

“It means a lot,” Wings of America Program Dustin Martin said of their continued participation in the event.

Based in New Mexico, Wings of America is an organization that improves the lives of American Indian youth, with running as the focal point. Wings will send eight male and female runners to compete in the junior level races.

Martin said the preparation leading up to race day has been very similar to years past, making sure the runners are properly acclimated to the conditions and change in distance. The men will run 8 kilometers and the women compete on a 6-kilometer course.

“Everyone is bumping up a race distance, so we’re trying to push kids anaerobic threshold a little higher to get them used to running faster for longer,” Martin said.

The top returner for the junior men’s team is Jericho Cleveland of Volcano Vista High in Albuquerque, N.M., who finished one spot ahead of teammate Kashon Harrison last year at the USATF Championships in Bend, Ore. Harrison, of Kirtland Central NM, is coming off a big breakthrough victory at the Foot Locker West regional and 14th place at nationals in December.

Martin also mentioned Joe Rush, a senior from Custer, S.D., who has been training in negative degree weather.

“He’s a great kid, working hard, and I’m excited to see how he does,” Martin said.

For the women, sophomore Ali Upshaw of St. Michael Indian School in Arizona is the top runner coming back. Upshaw is currently in basketball season, but Martin isn’t worried about her transition from the hardwood to the trails.

“She’s an animal when it comes to getting work done,” Martin said.

Jasmine Turtle-Morales of Eldorado High in Albuquerque and Alisia Honyumptewa of Chinle AZ are two of the faster athletes on the women’s roster.

While the group representing Wings of America is a mixture of some returners and other new faces from different states, Martin said what makes this team unique is their familiarity with one another.

“We had a winter training camp this year in Albuquerque that a majority of both teams made it to,” Martin said. “So I’m really excited to see how they operate right off the plane, rather than in years past the awkwardness of, ‘I don’t know any of these people.’ This year they will get into the groove quicker, and the fact that we do want to race well.”

Wings of America will be looking to bring home two more titles to its impressive and growing resume Saturday, but the ultimate goal is spreading the message of the program through their runners.

“Even though we serve a very small number of athletes with this elite level team, it really has that excitement that they create as a team and the pride that they give to Native people that are watching them, and hope that they give that maybe their kid or themselves can make the team in the future," Martin said.