Senior Sarah Gonzales became the first UNM cross country woman to be named to the All-Mountain West Conference first team, racing to a seventh-place finish Saturday at the MWC Championships in Albuquerque.
Gonzales finished the 6K race at the UNM North Golf Course in 22:03 and led the Lobo women to fifth place out of 14 teams and 66 runners.
The men placed fourth for the second year.
Earning all-MWC honors is a feat Gonzales has narrowly missed two years in a row. The top 15 finishers of the championship are honored each year and Gonzales coincidentally posted a 16th place finish and a time of 22:16 at the conference championship in 2001 and an identical time and place in 2002.
UNM head coach Matt Henry said Gonzales may not have been up to par last season due to a lingering illness. This year she bounced back remarkably.
"Last year Sarah got food poisoning early in the season," he said. "And I don't think she ever got out of it. But this was the best race I've ever seen her run."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
In his three years as head coach of the cross country team, Henry has built an extremely team-oriented squad. He said he does not consider cross country an individual sport, but a team sport. Gonzales agreed and said she was not motivated by her near-misses in the past, but by her teammates.
"I didn't really have a specific goal in mind," Gonzales said. "I was actually focused on the team, so it was a nice surprise to win something individually."
Sophomore Janice Tosa came in second for the Lobos for the first time this year, placing 27th while Timmie Murhpy was on Tosa's heels in 30th place. Freshman Riann Lucy and Brooke Gosling placed 37th and 49th for the Lobos.
Gonzales said having the home crowd in attendance gave the Lobos a boost.
"The fan support was great," she said. "We had a great crowd. I heard my name called out a million times."
On the men's side, Sean Flaherty led UNM for the fifth consecutive meet, finishing the 8K run with a time of 25:51.
Sophomore Brandon Vigil, freshmen Juan Ortega and Stephen Martinez and junior Nate Clem rounded out the scoring for UNM, finishing 26th, 28th, 32th and 34th respectively. Each of them finished within 1:14 of Flaherty.
BYU's Kip Kangogo earned first place in the men's race with a time of 24:16 and 2003 Athlete of the Year honors.
The winner of the women's race, also from BYU, was Michaela Mannova. She completed the course in 20:59 and led the Cougars to a first place finish for the fifth consecutive year.
The Air Force men were able to edge out BYU for first place.
Henry said BYU is not only the best in the MWC, but also the best in the country.
"I'm proud of that because that says a lot for our conference," he said.
Next up for the Lobos is the NCAA Mountain Region Championships in Ogden, Utah, Nov. 15.
