Staff Report
Matt Gonzales was at the top of his game for the Lobos at pre-nationals this weekend at the Lavern Gibson Championship Course in Indiana.
Gonzales won the 8000-meter race with a career best time of 23:47.2, and the UNM men's cross country team finished in 10th place, ahead of six top-30 teams.
Jacquelyne Gallegos was the star for the women, finishing 15th in the 6K with a personal record time of 21:00.
The All-American Gonzales finished first overall for the first time since Oct. 5, 2001. It was a close win for the Santa Fe native who beat second place Brent Vaughn of Colorado by less than a second. The Buffaloes, however, were the weekend's overall winners.
The other four runners for the men's team held their own, too. Freshman Shadrack Biwott finished 51st with a time of 24:48.2, and senior Ben Ortega, who missed the team's last meet to take the LSAT, finished just 16 seconds behind Biwott. Also in the pack was senior Sean Flaherty, eight seconds behind Ortega and Cameron Clarke who finished 117th with a time of 25:25.7.
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The men scored 344 points to top 26 other teams.
Gallegos had her best race in three years against some of the top competition in the country and took a huge step toward returning to the NCAA Championship meet.
Freshman Lindsay Barr and sophomore Riann Lucy recorded career-best 6K times with 23:05.7 and 23:36.0, respectively.
Freshman Sheyenne Lewis ran her first meet for the Lobos and finished 219th with a time of 23:42.1.
The Lobos will next run in the Mountain West Conference championships in San Diego starting Oct. 30. The men will be trying to bolster their status with the NCAA selection committee in hopes of gaining an at-large berth for the national meet in November.
