by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
Timmie Murphy was not going to end her cross country career at UNM without making a trip to the NCAA Championships.
At Saturday's NCAA Mountain Regional, which was at the UNM North Golf Course, Murphy punched her ticket to the national championships by placing fifth overall, the best by a Lobo since 1988.
Murphy said she was thrilled to qualify in her final attempt.
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"I'm really excited," she said. "That's a first for me, so we'll see what happens."
Murphy put herself in a good position early, surging to the front of the 119-woman field. Toward the end of the race, she fell back to eighth place but moved up three spots before finishing the 6,000-meter course
in 21:00.
UNM head coach Matt Henry said Murphy willed herself to a qualifying spot.
"From the gun, she meant business today," he said. "There was no doubt what her mission was today. I'm really proud of Timmie today for what she did."
As a team, the Lobos finished seventh overall, meaning Murphy would have to finish among the top-four individuals who were not on a qualifying team.
The top two teams from the regional meet, the University of Colorado-Boulder and Texas Tech, earned automatic berths to the NCAAs.
Third-place finisher Brigham Young will likely get an at-large bid, with a possibility for fourth-place Colorado State and fifth-place Weber State to get invited as well.
If all five teams get an invite, there is a chance that UNM junior Leslie Luna could get an invite to the NCAAs as well.
Luna finished 18th overall with a time of 21:26. The national championship field will be announced Monday.
Murphy and Luna were joined by freshman Vanessa Ortiz at the front of the pack for the beginning of the race. Ortiz, who finished 40th in 22:20, and Luna eventually fell back, but Murphy got a boost from her teammates, she said.
"It's nice to see your teammates around you," she said. "It was good to have everybody around -- all the fans and everybody."
On the men's side, senior Juan Ortega had a strong race, finishing 20th overall and garnering all-region honors for the first time. Ortega completed the 10,000-meter course in 31:26.
The UNM men finished 11th
overall.
Ortega fell short of his aim to gain an automatic bid to the NCAAs, but he left everything on the course,
he said.
"Every time I finish a race, I feel like I could have done better," he said. "But during the race, I feel like I fought as much as I could. I think I ran my best."
Lobo junior Jeremy Johnson, who had been battling illness in the days leading up to the race, was near the front of the pack most of the race before falling to 33rd
in 31:57.
Less than 24 hours before the regional meet, Johnson was on an IV and showed a lot of guts with his performance, Henry said.
"Yesterday at this time, I thought there's no way this kid's going to be able to race tomorrow," Henry said. "He really did a great job today. I take my hat off to Jeremy."
