Sept. 29, 2007
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Senior Jeremy Johnson finished sixth to lead the University of New Mexico men’s cross country team to a ninth place finish in a loaded 15-team field this morning at Oregon’s Bill Dellinger Invitational. Johnson defeated five cross country All-Americans, covering the 8,000-meter course at the Springfield Country Club in 23:39 – just 19 seconds behind the winner, Matt Withrow of Wisconsin.
New Mexico junior transfer Mat Ashton turned in an outstanding performance as well, finishing 20th overall with a season-best time of 23:57 to help the Lobos knock off Mountain West Conference rival Colorado State (11th) and Mountain Region foe Utah State (13th). New Mexico (221 points) finished just 38 points behind No. 23 Cal Poly (8th – 183 points) and was three spots behind seventh-ranked UTEP (6th – 148 points).
No. 4 Oregon, led by former Lobo All-American Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott (2nd), knocked off top-ranked Wisconsin, 54-73, to win the team title.
Running at full-strength for the first time this fall, the UNM men also received a strong race from sophomore Brian Vallie. Vallie, a middle distance standout on the track, finished 69th (24:44) in a field of 138 runners. Sophomore transfer Brock Hagerman and senior Joseph Garcia placed 73rd (24:47) and 76th (24:51), respectively, to cap the Lobo scoring.
Earlier in the day, the New Mexico women finished 10th (301 points) in a powerful 15-team field, led by junior transfer Michelle Corrigan, who was 26th overall with a time of 21:05 on the 6,000-meter course. Corrigan, who spent the past two seasons at Mississippi State, helped UNM down three Mountain Region rivals in Montana (12th – 324 points), Utah State (14th – 360 points) and UTEP (15th – 403 points).
The 24th-ranked Ducks, led by race winner Nicole Blood (20:04), shocked the field with a 65-90 victory over No. 4 Arkansas. No. 18 Colorado State (4th – 95 points) and No. 23 BYU (5th – 104 points), meanwhile, gave the MWC two teams in the top five.
The UNM women had just 1:11 separating their five scoring runners as sophomore Vanessa Ortiz placed 57th (21:32), senior transfer Kara Henry was 69th (21:40), junior transfer Carolyn Boosey was 78th (21:45) and senior Leslie Luna was 108th (22:16) in a field of 141 runners. Luna, a two-time all-conference and all-region runner, made her season debut after missing a significant portion of summer training with a foot injury.
New Mexico returns to competition next Saturday when the men and women travel to Tempe, Ariz. for the Arizona State Invitational.
Complete results from the 2007 Bill Dellinger Invitational are available here.