Track star's best is yet to come

by Steven Fernandez

Daily Lobo

Matt Gonzales was just 2.36 seconds from being crowned a national champion.

The UNM senior finished fourth at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 11 in Arkansas, improving on his own school record in the 5,000-meter race and finishing just a couple seconds out of first place.

Gonzales is in his senior year, but the championship was only his second indoor event all season. He crossed the line at 13:45.72 seconds, just behind Stanford senior Ian Dobson's winning time of 13:43.36. Gonzales came in fourth.

Gonzales said he was happy with the time but knows it wasn't his fastest.

"That's one thing I'm excited about," he said. "That 13:45 was easy. I still had something left."

Gonzales sat out most of the indoor season before making his 2005 debut on the track by winning the Mountain West Conference Championship in the 5k just a week before nationals.

This particular race featured some of the best competition Gonzales has faced, he said.

"It was awesome" Gonzales said. "Almost the whole field was under 14 minutes, which is crazy."

UNM head coach Matt Henry said Gonzales ran this particular race a bit differently than usual by staying back in the middle of the pack for most of the race. He passed a few runners in the later part but had a little too much ground to make up at the end.

"I think I could've done better," Gonzales said. "I was boxed in most of the race, and I didn't get position where I needed to."

With the fourth-place finish, Gonzales was named All-American for the sixth time in his collegiate career. He is the first male Lobo to get All-American on the indoor track since 1990.

"I just feel good about representing UNM," Gonzales said.

While this is the first time he has done so in indoor track, Gonzales earned All-American honors in 2003 and 2004 in outdoor track with UNM. He is also a two-time All-American in cross country as a Lobo. His other honor came at Highlands in Division II cross country.

"That's pretty impressive," Henry said. "I'm very proud of Matt."

For Gonzales, it is also the fourth time that he has finished in the top five at a national championship event. In 2003, he placed third in the 10k at the outdoor NCAAs and fourth in the same event a year later. In the fall, he grabbed second place in the cross country national championships.

Despite all the accolades and school records the runner holds, Henry said Gonzales was not satisfied with coming up a bit short in this race.

"He was a little upset," Henry said. "That was a big-name race."

Gonzales has one last chance to win a national championship in his final collegiate season, the upcoming 2005 outdoor season. Gonzales has been one of the most dominant distance runners in the entire nation the past couple years and will likely be one of the favorites in either the 5k or the 10k.

"I raced really well," he said. "I think I'm going to run fast in outdoor. I'm feeling pretty confident."