YELM — Marcos Andujar and Deejay Taylor are shining examples of how the Yelm cross country program’s culture is working.
Yelm’s two top senior runners are barreling toward postseason success in the coming weeks, but their start in the sport at YHS is what defines their careers.
Take Andujar. Back in the 2023-24 school year — his freshman year — Yelm head boys cross country and track coach Alex McIntire went around the school asking 100 people if they would be a long-distance runner.
When McIntire approached Andujar in the weight room, he said yes, and by his retelling, he was the only one to agree. He ran track in 2024 before starting cross country the fall of his sophomore year. Andujar admitted that he didn’t take the sport very seriously as an underclassman and spent time running at the junior varsity level, but that flipped his junior year, when he earned a spot in the state championship meet. He runs twice a day every day, and he’s stuck to the team’s training plan.
“My approach has really stayed the same. There’s no difference between me this year and last year,” Andujar said. “I’ve only gotten better because I’ve stayed consistent, stuck to my training plan and trusted my coach.”
So far this season, Andujar is inching closer to the school record of 15 minutes and 22.3 seconds set by Bryce Cerkowniak in 2019. He’s eight seconds away and ranks second in school history. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Andujar finished in first place on his senior day with a time of 16:21.5 in the boys race at the Yelm Tornado 5K.
Taylor, a longtime soccer player, didn’t try cross country until last season, and she ran a sub-20-minute 5K in her first attempt. But she missed some time in her junior campaign due to an Achilles injury and didn’t return for a month. Despite the lack of experience and the injury, she still qualified for the state championship meet.
She has continued to improve as a senior and won the girls race at the Yelm Tornado 5K on Wednesday in 19:31.0, her first top finish of her career. Taylor currently ranks fourth in school history with a lifetime-best time of 19:10.3.
“I have a love for distance running. I realized that this is what I wanted to do in college,” Taylor said. “This felt like my place and my thing, and it’s the first thing that I really felt good at. This was my home more than anything. I belong to running.”
Yelm girls head coach Nicole Scheuerman highlighted Taylor’s work ethic and leadership.
“She is a natural runner, but, most importantly, she works hard. Deejay comes to practice every day ready to run,” Scheuerman said. “She is a cheerleader. It doesn’t matter who you are on the team. She is there to cheer you on and to make sure that you do your best.”When you have that encouragement, everybody wants to do their best. Iron sharpens iron.”
Yelm can seemingly take people off the street and evolve them into a prolific runner in no time. In a relatively short amount of time, Taylor and Andujar have established themselves among the upper echelon of runners in the South Puget Sound League. They were among the seven seniors to be honored before the Tornados’ home meet, including Kingston Farmer, Aiden Franco, Amaya Brown, Peter Robbins, and Mitchell McGreevy.
“They’re a great senior class. I ask every freshman to leave this place better than when they started, and they took it to heart and did a great job,” McIntire said of the male seniors. “What I really love about this senior class is their progression through the four years. None of these guys were in varsity as freshmen. They’re running with some of the best in Washington.”
Yelm’s five male seniors took up half of the top 10 in the Yelm Tornado 5K, which also featured Timberline, Rainier and Chief Leschi. Robbins took second at 16:38.7, and McGreevy finished in fourth at 17:39.0. Farmer placed seventh at 17:58.4, and Franco earned 10th at 18:28.6. For the girls, Brown took third place at 21:00.9.
Additionally, one of the stars of the day in the boys race was freshman Anthony Abeyta, who continued his strong start to his debut campaign with a third-place run of 17:37.0. Junior Brian Hartwell placed fifth at 17:48.7, and Timberline senior Enoch Augur was the Blazers’ top runner at 17:56.3 in sixth place. Rainier junior Ryan Barela edged out teammate Shane Parker for the Mountaineers’ top finisher in 11th place with a PR of 18:50.7.
In the girls race, Rainier junior Komaire Robles was neck and neck with Taylor for most of the course until the Yelm senior pulled away in the third mile.
Robles is in a new position as one of the leaders of a team looking to maintain its place among the 2B classification’s best. Her offseason was rocky, however. Shortly after returning from the state track meet in Yakima in June, she tried to continue running with an indoor track club, but a shin injury held her back. From mid-June to late August, Robles didn’t run, and she entered her junior season rather fresh.
“It was very strange. It was very difficult not running,” she said. “Our team is so supportive, and it’s definitely a much different atmosphere now with Alexis (Myers), Kinsley (Barlow) and I being the older ones.”
Robles narrowly earned her best time of the season at 19:51.2 in a second-place finish in Yelm. She feels better physically with each meet, and she believes a time in the low 19-minute range is possible with the postseason on the horizon.
“It’s definitely possible. I think I have a deeper understanding than last year,” Robles said.
Robles was joined in the top five by Myers, who finished in fourth with a season-best time of 21:18.6. Yelm junior Ryleigh Hernandez notched a fifth-place time of 21:24.8. Timberline freshman Kalea Rahal-Cochran was the Blazers’ top finisher at 24:04.4.
