By Don Ketchum

It wasn’t exactly where Jorge Martinez wanted to be.

About halfway through his race at Saturday’s (Oct. 9) Doug Conley Invitational, the senior runner from Phoenix Alhambra fell to the ground after tripping over a course flag at the Tempe Rolling Hills Golf Course.

“I fell and I couldn’t catch up. I thought I was going to win,’’ he said.

Despite the fall, Martinez still managed to finish in third place with a time of 16:19 to help Alhambra take the team championship trophy.

Martinez and the Lions hope to hoist the hardware again at the Class 5A Division I state meet, as they did a year ago and nearly did in 2008 (second). Martinez is the two-time defending state champion.

He held a bag of ice against his lower back on Saturday, but indicated the injury wasn’t serious.

“I’m kind of sore right now,’’ he said.

“I still like this course, though. There are a lot of hills.’’

Martinez began running in the eighth grade at the suggestion of his junior-high math teacher.

“I really liked it and I’ve been doing it ever since,’’ he said.

“It was a great feeling to win the first time, and even better last year because we won as a team. That’s why I run, why we all run, so that the team can win. If I win, I get one point (lowest score) and that’s what helps my teammates. We all support each other.’’

One of the main reasons for his success is discipline.

“You have to try to train every day,’’ Martinez said. “You have to run the miles. It takes discipline, particularly if it’s not a real practice and all of you aren’t running together. The hardest thing to do is run by yourself.’’

Martinez wasn’t by himself much longer. The call came for Alhambra’s runners to pose for the team photo.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta run,’’ he said.

He will keep on running and running and running. He will run straight through the state meet and into college somewhere. He isn’t sure where yet, but his work ethic is sure to keep him going.