Eldorado runner Laurynn Sisneros earns top cross country honor
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (BVM) — Laurynn Sisneros didn’t enter Eldorado High School as a great cross country runner.
“When I got her freshman year she was more of a track runner,” Eldorado head cross country coach Chokri Dhaouadi said. “I kind of turned her little by little into being a cross country runner. I started telling her that I want her to believe in herself that she could run any distance. .. She has lots of speed so we worked to build her endurance and that really helped her a lot.”
With the help of Dhaouadi, Sisneros not only became a better long-distance runner, she became the best in New Mexico. Earlier this spring, the 5-foot-6 senior captured the Class 5A girls cross country state title with a winning time of 18 minutes and 35.78 seconds, which was nearly 22 seconds faster than her next-closest competitor, Cleveland’s Leah Futey, who’s also Sisnero’s friend and training partner. And like Futey in 2019 after she claimed the 5A state title, Sisnero was named the 2020-21 Gatorade New Mexico Girls Cross Country Player of the Year, becoming the second Eldorado runner in three years to earn the honor. Jasmine Turtle-Morales won the award for the 2018 season after winning the individual state title and helping Sisnero and the Eagles claim the first of back-to-back team state titles.
“Seeing her teammate winning that award, she worked so hard to get up there,” Dhaouadi said. “They worked together and she was very coachable. She loves running and that’s the good thing about her.”
Before becoming the state’s top cross country runner, Sisneros found earlier success on the track, winning the 1,600-meter run at the Class 5A state meet as a sophomore. She’ll continue to use her speed and endurance in cross country and track after high school. Sisneros is verbally committed to attend the United States Military Academy where she’ll compete in both sports beginning in the fall, and Dhaouadi believes she can reach her full potential at the next level.
“I believe she can run 17 minutes,” Dhaouadi said. “She can run for any college. She can be one of the best.”
