Bordow: Hopi boys cross country wins 25th straight state title

Rick Baker gathered his Keams Canyon Hopi High boys cross country team around him. The Division IV state championship race was about to begin, and Baker, as is his custom, was giving his team a last-second pep talk.

Baker didn't spend much time discussing tactics or race positioning. Instead, he told his team to pray to their wuya as they ran, a prayer for all the clans in the Hopi tribe. He also reminded them, once again, what the 3.1 mile course in front of them represented: A chance to win a 25th straight state championship, the longest streak in the country and a number that would celebrate this team forever in Hopi minds and hearts.

"I used it as motivation," said Baker, who is affectionately known as the "The Legend" among the Hopi people. "You don't want to be the team that's known for breaking the streak. There was pressure, but I told them it was good pressure that we can thrive on."

Twenty minutes later, at least 200 Hopi fans — many of whom made the four-hour ride from Keams Canyon, gathered near the finish line. As the runners came into view they yelled "Go Hopi" and "Nahongvita" — dig deeper, go harder.

One by one the Hopi runners crossed the finish line, their arrival trumpeted by longtime Hopi race announcer Bruce Talawyma. Immediately, everyone knew: Hopi had done it: It had won a 25th straight state title.

"It means so much," Hopi senior Slim Jackson said. "All year long we were like, 'We gotta win this. We gotta win this.' Now we're going down in history."

Running isn't just an exercise in Hopi culture. It is part of their tradition and a piece of their heritage. Runners carried messages from village to village, often traveling more than 50 miles. They hunted game and prayed for rain. Hopis came to believe that running not only brought health to the runner; it blessed the entire community.

"We've been doing it for thousands of years," Talawyma said. "It's not just races. It's part of our ceremonies that we do in Hopi. That can be ceremonial dances, ceremonies where we give our offerings to the great spirit. It's our culture."

Hopi's runners are inspired by their family and friends, by Baker and the legacy they want to live up to. But they are pushed, always, by Louis Tewanima, a Hopi who was shipped off to boarding school by the federal government but went on to win a silver medal in the 10,000 meters at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Famously, Tewanima told interviewers, "Me run fast good. All Hopi run fast good."

Saturday, several of Tewanima's descendants were on hand to celebrate No.25.

"I think Louis would have been really happy," said his grandson, Max Taylor. "He would have been right here cheering the runners on just like us. He would be here wholeheartedly."

In the week leading up to the race Baker heard from former Hopi runners. They wished his team well and said they would be there Saturday for the race. Baker was confident, but occasionally his fear got the best of him.

"Sometimes it creeps into your mind that you might not win," said Baker, who as an 8-year-old runner was so powerful that village leaders called him hongivt, the strong one. "But I didn't tell that to the kids."

He didn't have to. They knew what No.25 signified and what it meant to the entire Hopi community. The pressure, however, didn't faze them. Instead it pushed them, like a wind at their back. And when the race was over and the championship was theirs they jumped into each other's arms and shouted in delight.

"All the runners that came here before were looking at us today," Jackson said. "This means they can have pride in us."

Reach Bordow at scott.bordow@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/sBordow