LAGUNA-ACOMA - Augustus Cuch hates to lose. That is how his coach described him, in short.

Augustus Cuch runs a workout with cross country teammates in a practice on Aug. 25. The Hawks will be running a preseason meet at McGaffey on Aug. 29 at 9 a.m.BEACON / TESHIMA

The young man is only in the eighth grade, but has been turning in remarkable times, faster and stronger than his older teammates.

After an hour workout, under the deadly Laguna sun, of three miles and pulling a teammate attacked to a bungie cord, Cuch turned in a low five-minute mile. He still had enough kick that neither of the coaches can compete with.

“I tried to kick with him,” laughed Laguna-Acoma Cross Country Head Coach Dan Otero, “he just took off.”

While Cuch has some star quality cross country requires a five athlete team and the five man team could end up being his old running mates from the Acoma Running Club.

“Right now the young ones are beating the older runners,” said Otero, “the older runners didn't run in the summer.”

The boys have quite a bit of depth with juniors Clifford “C.J.” Douma and Isaiah Cheromiah, sophomores Casey Martinez and Ben Bautista.

“We have a good bunch this year,” said Coach Otero, “we're mostly underclassmen.”

A new coach's voice can be heard at the practice in addition to Otero.

“Come on guys” and “keep it up you're doing good,” are the words of encouragement from Justin Kie, who was asked to participate as an assistant coach.

“They look up to him as a leader, he is the one who was making calls in the summer,” said Otero.

Kie worked out with the team and offered his knowledge and passion for the sport during the summer workouts as well as the regular season.

Otero said as many as 19 runners showed to practice in the summer runs, those numbers being the most he has ever had.

“We have a little more depth this year,” said Otero. Competing teams might be surprised at the level of the Hawks' talent this season. “They start running at a real young age, it's a great program,” said Otero.

Any running fans from the L-A area (as well as non-fans) are familiar with the name Melissa “Missy” Saavedra. She is only a sophomore and returns from last year's team as L-A's top girl cross country runner. Without much effort at all, she is able to run minutes faster then her teammates. Her top competition last year on the practice course was Nicole Luna, a stellar athlete awarded an athletic scholarship shortly after the end of the cross-country season.

Juniors Iris Lucero and Mary Abeita return to the team along side promising eighth grader Lacey Natseway and freshman Seneca Riley.

Otero and the girls are hoping to improve with the addition of missing runners once physicals and paperwork are completed.

The Hawks take on the Gallup area schools at a preseason meet at the McGaffey Course on Aug. 29 at 9 a.m.