When Sedona Red Rock High School’s cross country team opened its season at the Payson Invitational, coach Ben Scamihorn noted that freshman Octavio Prieto was expecting himself to finish with a time around 27 minutes. When the race was over, Prieto had shattered that goal by nearly three minutes.
It wasn’t a bad start to the season for a kid who entered the season with no experience in the sport and just hoping to get ready for another sport in the winter.
“I just wanted to get into it because my first sport is basketball and I wanted to get into shape for this basketball season,” Prieto said. “Now that I’m into it I’m actually enjoying it and enjoying the experience.”
It’s easy to see why Prieto is enjoying his time in cross country. His time of 24:27 in Payson wasn’t simply better than expected. It was also the third-best time posted by any of the Scorpion runners.
Prieto isn’t just one of SRRHS’ best runners, either. The way he goes in practice also serves as motivation for the other top runners on the SRRHS cross country team. Carlos Villegas paced Sedona Red Rock in Payson, finishing at 24:05. As freshmen and friends, the two naturally spend a lot of time in practice running together. Villegas credited Prieto’s drive for the early success that both have enjoyed as first-year runners.
“He’s always pushing,” Villegas said. “He’s in front and I have to catch up. He doesn’t stop. He doesn’t quit.”
Prieto deflected much of the credit for his early success to his teammates and coach. Scamihorn, though, noted Prieto’s consistency and credits it for the young runner’s progress on the trails.
“He’s one of the kids who hasn’t missed practice at all and who I know runs on the weekends,” Scamihorn said. “I think that’s all really paying off, which is great.”
Scamihorn doesn’t just work with Prieto on the cross country team. He also teaches Prieto in class. Seeing how Prieto works in class makes his coach and teacher much less surprised to see how well he’s taken to cross country.
“He’s a good student, a good kid all around from what I know. He’s funny, he has a sense of humor, I like being around him. He doesn’t cause any problems in class. He works hard — kind of like he does in cross country.”
Prieto readily acknowledges that there are better, more experienced runners than him. While it would be nice, becoming the best runner isn’t necessarily his goal. What is important to Prieto is that he makes himself better every day he runs. He tries to follow that model away from cross country, as well.
“As a runner, I’m not the best one out there,” he said. “But I don’t give up, I keep pushing myself. That’s the most important thing. Just bettering yourself everyday. And to my friends and even people I don’t know, I always try to be kind.”
