by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's cross country leader went down early in Saturday's race, but that didn't stop the team from outperforming most of the field at Auburn.
Senior Jacquelyne Gallegos, the Lobos' top runner, was forced to drop out of the women's race with a hamstring injury. That put pressure on the rest of the UNM women.
Junior Timmie Murphy handled that pressure easily. Murphy finished seventh overall, running strong after sitting out all of the 2004 season due to injury. She clocked a time of 17:17 on the women's 5k course.
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"I was pretty excited," Murphy said. "I think I ran pretty well."
Her performance helped the women's team finish sixth in a competitive meet that featured 23 teams.
"I think we did pretty well considering we didn't have our No. 1 runner," Murphy said.
Sophomores Leslie Luna and Lindsay Barr were the Lobos' second- and third-best runners. Luna finished 28th with a time of 17:56, while Barr was 39th in 18:09.
Senior Janice Tosa placed 43rd with a time of 18:13 while freshman Seny Archuleta capped the Lobo scoring, coming in 79th with a time of 18:51.
On the men's side, the Lobos adjusted well to the long journey to Alabama and had many career bests, placing second overall out of 25 teams at the Auburn Invitational.
Seniors Cameron Clarke and Nate Clem led the way for the men, both finishing in the top 20. Clarke finished in seventh place - his highest place in three years - with a time of 24:06.
Clem completed the 8,000-meter course in 24:33, the fastest he's ever finished a race. His performance was good enough for an 18th-place finish.
Junior Juan Ortega also had his career-fastest time, 24:36. Ortega finished 20th and was the Lobos' third scorer.
Ortega said he was excited about the meet, and said the team is finally starting to come together.
"I'm very excited," he said. "I think we did a pretty good job. By far it's been the best race we've had as a team this season."
Coming in fourth for UNM was Joseph Garcia. The sophomore finished 33rd also with a career-best time of 24:50.
Junior Steven Martinez was the final scorer for UNM, finishing 45th with yet another personal best for UNM of 25:05.
Junior Brandon Vigil and sophomore Chris Bratton also had personal-best times, finishing in 69th (25:37) and 84th (25:49), respectively.
The second-place finish for the Lobos is the highest they have placed in any meet since last season. After losing key runners Matt Gonzales to the professional ranks and Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott to the University of Oregon, the men's team was expected to see a drop-off this year. The performance at Auburn has the team still feeling hopeful for this year.
"Since we don't have Matt or Shadrack, we have to step up," Ortega said. "We can't have Matt and Shadrack finish first and second and then the rest of us 20 spots back. We all have to run together."
The Auburn Invitational was the last meet the Lobos will compete in before racing at the Mountain West Conference Championships on Oct. 28.
Going into that meet, Ortega said the men's team will take a lot of positives and momentum from their performance.
"I think this definitely gave us a lot of confidence," he said. "Everyone is excited. It was really good to see coach excited about the race."
For the women, getting Gallegos back for the MWC Championships will be a huge boost.
"We have two weeks until conference," said Murphy. "That should give her plenty of time to come around. I think we can be really strong with her."
