Updated August 14, 2025 01:08PM
It Takes a Team to Run 100 Miles—Sometimes, a High School Cross Country Team
Brandon Dugi, a runner and coach from Navajo Nation, brought the Page High School cross country team to Western States to show them how far they could go. Little did he know how much they’d buoy him along the way.
(Photo: Rhoam Creative Studio)
It was an image Brandon Dugi had envisioned all day. Ninety-nine miles into the 2025 Western States 100—his first-ever 100 miler—he exited onto the road at Robie Point.
There, around 4 a.m., the Running Devils awaited. The band of high school boys were members of the cross country team at Page High School in Arizona. It’s a team the 28-year-old Navajo runner has coached since 2019.
After a few hours of sleep at the AirBnB, the boys awoke when their coach was spotted at Pointed Rocks, mile 94.3. When he finally arrived at the late hour, they cheered and prepared to run the final mile with him.
As sleep-deprived teenagers, they also had some unfiltered thoughts.
“It was funny because they were like, ‘Man, we’re so tired,’” Dugi said. “I’m like, ‘Dude. I understand.’”
Dugi will never forget the relief he felt in that moment. A long day with ups and downs faded away as the best moment was saved for last. Everyone there had gotten him here. A fellow high school running coach and his partner who crewed him. His brother and other family members. Even his young team.
All the miles, the good, the bad, and the unexpected, led him here to this one he’ll never forget.
Watch: Yéego: 100 Miles. One Day.
It takes a team to run 100 miles—sometimes even a cross country team. Brandon Dugi, a Navajo runner and cross country coach at Page High School, brought his runners to the Western States 100 to show them how far they could go. Little did he know how much he’d learn from them along the way.
Growing Up on Navajo Nation
In Navajo tradition, the elders teach that each day should start with a prayer and a run to the east at dawn. This form of prayer is viewed as a connection with the land and ancestors and a celebration of life. It is a symbol of new beginnings.
Growing up on Navajo Nation, the Navajo reservation just outside of Page, Arizona, Dugi saw the land as a playground. Yet, running wasn’t how he explored it.
Hiking was his primary method. From a young age, his family, immediate and some extended, hiked much of Arizona’s public lands and even made an annual Grand Canyon rim-to-rim crossing. On the latter, Dugi would spot runners completing the trek in stride, going out and back in a single go. He was mesmerized.
It’s moments like this that Dugi saw his life pushing him to running.
In high school, his friend group was the Page High School cross country team—despite not being on the team himself. He even loved going long distances in search of natural wonders, which led to him discovering a passion for night sky and landscape photography.
He took that passion on the road after high school. Living in his van as a landscape photographer, he found that the better shape he was in, the better his assignments became. So, he signed up for a trail 10K in 2016.
“I just remember it being horrible,” Dugi said. “Getting to a location, you couldn’t be too fatigued or too tired to perform. My brother did that race with me, and I told him we couldn’t have this bad of a race again.”
It was around that time that Dugi was introduced to this young, up-and-coming ultrarunner in Arizona who was training for this race called Western States. The runner regaled the running-curious Dugi with the history of the race and this other one called “UTMB.”
That runner just happened to be Jim Walmsley.
“I really got to become good friends with him before I even knew what he was doing,” Dugi said. I found out you can just sign up for ultras and started training for them.”
It took time to master the craft. An ankle injury that required surgery took him out for a while, but over the years he finally nailed his nutrition and training. That finally led to two solid performances at Black Canyon and Javelina 100Ks in 2024.
The next logical step was a 100 miler, and of all places for him to debut at the distance, he found himself in Olympic Valley for the 2025 edition of Western States.
Buoyed by the Boys
As his crew tended to his pack, fuel, and other needs at the Dusty Corners aid station (mile 38), Dugi acted quickly. For the last nearly 10 miles, his feet slid around in his shoes, the friction taking a toll he didn’t want his crew to see.
With the coast clear, he removed his sock. With it, he said, “a bunch of meat came off with it.” He lubed up his feet and slapped his sock back on to hide the evidence.
“Just suck it up and keep running,” he told himself.
It’s a common thought process among ultrarunners. When the mind isn’t functioning at full capacity, mistakes can be made. Dugi knows this was one that popped up throughout the day.
Another arose in the canyons when his stomach turned. Throwing up gels and even water, his time goal—18 hours and 30 minutes—faded away. The dark stretch ate at him. By mile 55 at Michigan Bluff, he requested a visit to the medical tent’s foot doctor.
“I couldn’t get a full stride because of my foot,” Dugi said. “They patched me up real good, but I had some doubts. There was like 50 miles to go. Should I just call it? I see a lot of athletes drop when the day isn’t going their way. Then, I’m like, my family, my loved ones, my team, I’ve got to do this for them. I’ve got to do this for myself. I got some shoes and ran out of there.”
Seeing his pace from that last section, his crew took their time to go the seven miles to Forest Hill. As they arrived, so did Dugi, looking fresh.
From there, he just ran. There were difficulties with sleep deprivation after the sun set and one of his pacer’s headlamps died, but they troubleshooted.
Meanwhile, the boys on the cross country team took in the Western States experience, and they were making the most of it. When Dugi arrived at the infamous Rucky Chucky river crossing, he found them once again lifting his spirits in an unexpected way.
“They all had their shirts off and were all in the river,” Dugi said. “They were the only ones in the water other than volunteers.”
The final struggle over the last stretch was math. With his time goal out of reach, he focused on going under 24 hours and earning a coveted silver belt buckle. In his mind, it wasn’t possible. Even when he limited aid stations to one or two minutes, he never felt like he could do it. His brother, Tanner, who paced him twice during the race, tried to convince him otherwise.
With three miles to go, he almost gave up on that goal. His watch told him that he’d need to run the final three miles in 19 minutes—6:20 minute-per-mile pace—to break 24 hours. He kept running, just in case there was a chance. Hope was slim. Then he saw his team as he approached Robie Point, the exit onto the road to the finish.
They helped him realize he had messed up. This time, in a good way.
“I had been looking at the lap time instead of the overall time,” Dugi said. “I still had 30 minutes left to break 24 hours.”
Soon after, he rounded the track at Placer High School and crossed the finish line of his first 100 miler in 23 hours, 46 minutes, and 12 seconds.
Natives Belong
The weekend after the race, Dugi was back in the mountains with his team. This time, they were traversing the Utah high country for the team’s summer altitude training camp.
With no service and no race ahead of him, he finally reflected with the boys, who shared their thoughts a week after their own adventure.
“Western States had actually changed their perspective on running and trail running,” Dugi said. “For the first time, they talked about doing ultras after high school or after college. They saw opportunities out on the trail, the Golden Trail Series, shorter distances. They were glued to this fascinating world that’s now open to them.”
That was important to Dugi. The main reason he wanted his team at his race was to allow them to see the world outside of Page, to expand their worldview and show them what might be outside. It’s something not everyone there has a chance to do.
It’s also something he wants to spread out to the Navajo, and other reservations—whether he’s lining up at Western States again, his next dream of UTMB, or races at home.
“I hope what I do, and just being at events and races, inspires younger, Native, Indigenous athletes to go out there and prove there’s no limit to growing up on the reservation,” Dugi said. “If a Navajo like them or a Native like them is out here doing these things, they can do it, too. Native Americans have always been good at longer endurance sports. There’s a lot of good talent on the reservation, and they’re coming.”
Catch Dugi’s story on the big screen at Outside TV.
