by Travis Weber
Daily Lobo
The UNM cross country team blew away the competition this weekend at the annual Lobo Invitational.
The men defeated second-place Texas A&M by 32 points in their season opener.
Senior Matt Gonzales finished second overall with a time of 24:44, a fraction of a second behind teammate and overall winner Shadrack Biwott.
Biwott and Gonzales ran strong, defeating third-place finisher Mircea Bogdan by 40 seconds. It was a nice return to the track for Gonzales after redshirting last year. It was a solid first collegiate meet for Biwott.
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Head coach Matt Henry said he liked what he saw from his runners.
"They ran a real strong mile and a half and then just found their comfort zone," he said.
Henry said other factors may have influenced the way the team ran.
"They weren't really pushing it, but that's good because they were both feeling a little under the weather, as was most of the team," Henry said. "The team ran very well today considering that most of them are or were sick."
Seniors Ben Ortega (26:15) and Sean Flaherty (26:20) finished ninth and 11th, followed by sophomore Stephen Martinez (26:20), who was 12th. Junior Nate Clem (15th at 26:43) and senior Nick Martinez (16th at 26:43) rounded out the Lobos' top seven, giving them a total of 35 points for the meet.
But it wasn't perfect for the Lobos.
"The one thing we really need to work on is closing the gap between our first two guys and the rest of the team," Henry said. "And hopefully, when everybody is healthy, we can do that,"
The women's third-place finish was lead by senior Jacquelyne Gallegos, who finished third overall (22:13), seconds behind Texas Tech's Bridget Tidwell and Irene Kimaiyo.
"Jacquelyne's finish was really fun for us," Henry said. "She ran well and she led almost the entire race. And when you're all alone, that's hard to do."
Lobo sophomore Riann Lucy finished 17th (23:59) and junior Janice Tosa was 18th (24:03). Freshman Lindsay Barr had a strong collegiate debut, finishing 21st (24:03), while freshman Kellie Nickerson was 32nd (25:01).
The team finished third overall, behind regionally ranked Texas Tech and Texas A&M.
"It was a good first meet for us," Henry said. "But even though I was satisfied with what I saw, we have some things to work on - getting healthy being the key. But, we did what we had to do today."
