Oct. 16, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – New Mexico senior Jeremy Johnson and Colorado State senior April Thomas have been selected as the Mountain West Conference men’s and women’s cross country athletes of the week, respectively. For both athletes, this week marks their second consecutive athlete of the week honor and their second for the season.
Johnson is the first UNM men’s runner to earn Athlete of the Week honors twice in the same season and joins Jacquelyne Gallegos as the only runners in program history to earn three of the awards in a career. New Mexico has won the men’s award six times since the 2004 season after claiming just three in the first five years of the Mountain West Conference (1999-2003).
Johnson received the award after leading all Mountain West Conference runners at Indiana State’s elite Pre-Nationals Invitational meet last Saturday, finishing fourth in the men’s blue race with a time of 23:26.1. Johnson broke his own program record for an 8K course for the second time in as many races this fall, surpassing his previous best by almost 13 seconds. The Albuquerque, N.M., native notched the second-highest finish by a Lobo at the Pre-Nationals meet, behind only two-time cross country All-American Matt Gonzales who won the race in 2004. Johnson improved 44 spots and nearly a full minute on his 2006 Pre-Nationals performance.
Thomas, hailing from Aurora, Colo., was the top finisher for the Rams at Pre-Nationals, coming in 21st in the women’s blue race amongst a field that included 23 of the nation’s top 30 teams. Her 6K time of 20:48 on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country course led Colorado State to a sixth-place finish in the prestigious meet.