Cibola's Bernie Montoya took a tasty bite out of the Big Apple on June 9 when he and 14 of the top prep milers in the country squared off in the Dream Mile at the 2012 Adidas Grand Prix meet at Icahn Stadium in Randalls Island, N.Y.

Montoya, Arizona's reigning two-time, big-school cross country champ and a three-event winner (800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meters) at last month's Division I state meet, produced an amazing kick in the final 200 meters to win the race in a time of 4 minutes, 01.32 seconds. Nine of the 15 runners finished with times under 4:05.

Montoya edged out Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland High in Ona, WV by 1.41 seconds. Burcham was a multi-event winner last month in the West Virginia state track championships. It was one of the few races of late that Montoya, who will be a senior this fall,  was not the pre-race favorite. That didn't stop the competitive juices from flowing.  And it's a victory  likely to turn heads as he did within the state last fall with his continued prowess in cross country

"I definitely didn't expect (to win it)," Montoya said in post-race Dream Mile comments. "If it was there, I was going to take it. I just didn't expect it to be."

All of Montoya's winning times in the 2012 Division I state meet were the best among the four division winners in the state. Along with multiple cross country and track inviationals individual titles in 2011-2012, Montoya won the Sole Sports Boys Sweepstakes race at the Desert Twilight Festival in Queen Creek in late September that brought competition from outside Arizoina and most of Arizona's top runners. Montoya also placed 12th in the Nike Cross Nationals last December in Portland, Ore.