Oct. 13, 2007
Senior Jeremy Johnson finished a season-best fourth to lead the University of New Mexico men’s cross country team to a 20th place finish at the Pre-Nationals Invitational this morning at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course. Only 24 seconds off the lead, the All-American Johnson had his best finish of the season and broke his own program record with a time of 23:27 on the 8,000-meter course.
Johnson finished 44 spots higher than he did at the 2006 Pre-Nationals meet.
Junior transfer Mat Ashton ran second on the team for the third time this fall, placing 51st with a time of 24:10, helping New Mexico (492 points) knock off Mountain West Conference rival Wyoming (763 points). The Lobos finished right on the heels of MWC power Air Force (477 points).
New Mexico junior transfer Lee Emanuel ran third on the team (142nd overall) with a time of 24:58. Emanuel was followed closely by senior Joseph Garcia (147th) and sophomore transfer Brock Hagerman (148th) who both finished with a time of 25:02 to cap the UNM scoring.
The Lobo women, meanwhile, placed 21st in the 38 team field. New Mexico was lead once again by junior transfer Michelle Corrigan who finished 48th with a time of 21:12 to help UNM (571 points) knock off Mountain region contenders Utah State (719 points) and Montana State (839 points). Senior tranfer Kara Henry (113th) and junior transfer Carolyn Boosey (114th) followed Corrigan with identical times of 21:53.
Sophomore Polina Ermoshina posted a time of 22:09 (142nd) in her collegiate cross country debut. An All-American Nordic skier for the national power UNM ski team last year, Ermoshina joined the cross country team earlier in the week. Sophomore Vanessa Ortiz rounded out the Lobos’ scoring runners with a time of 22:21 (154th).
No. 15 Northern Arizona (124 points) won the men’s blue race, paced by overall winner Lopez Lomong (23:03). MWC preseason favorite BYU was 11th with 278 points.
Top-ranked Stanford (102 points) had the second and third runners in the women’s blue race en route to the team victory. Colorado State (216 points) posted a sixth place finish – tops among MWC schools.
Next up for the Lobos is the Mountain West Conference Championships in San Diego on Oct 27.