XC Women and Men Finish First and Second at NMSU
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico cross country team finished its first meet of the 2021 season. The women and men finished in first (35 points) and second place (60 points), respectively, at the Lori Fitzgerald Open.
“It was a great start to the year and a rust buster for both teams. The women ran very, very well. Samrawit Dishon was fantastic, and it was great to have Juanita Johnson back after 20 months away from UNM. They ran well on the men’s side even though the top runner Abdirizak did not run,” stated Head Coach Joe Franklin.
“Overall, it was a great start to the year and should put everyone in a great position for our next meet at Notre Dame.”
For the women, the first Lobo to cross the finish line was sophomore Samree Dishon, finishing first with a time of 17:11.04. The next Lobo to finish was sophomore Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi in sixth place (17:54.81), followed by redshirt-senior Juanita Johnson in seventh (17:55.98), the pair of Lobos added 13 points to the team total.
Red-shirt senior Brenda Rosales-Coria rounded out the top ten with a time of 18:36.66. Following closely behind were freshman Lauren Bettencourt and redshirt-junior Isabela Nellos in 11th and 12th place with times of 18:45.06 and 18:49.20, respectively.
Rounding out the women was sophomore Celeste Martinez, with a time of 19:05.93 (14th).
The first Lobo on the men’s team was to finish senior Awet Yohannes, finishing in fourth place overall (15:08.85). Senior Reece Donihi followed close behind in fifth place with a time of 15:09.13.
Senior Iolo Hughes finished just outside the top ten with a time of 15:30.07(13th). Rounding out the Lobo men’s team were sophomore Matthew Larkin and redshirt-junior Harrison Smith III with times of 15:39.71 (22nd) and 16:19.08 (32nd).
UNM took the top spot with 35 points in the team standing for the women, followed by in-state rival NMSU with 49 points. UTEP and El Paso Community College were the next to finish with 65 and 121 total points, respectively. Rounding out the competition for the women was New Mexico Highlands University with 127 points.
UTEP finished first with 39 points on the men’s side, and the UNM came in second (60). New Mexico Highlands finished third, just two points behind the Lobos (62). Rounding out the competition for the men was NMSU and El Paso Community College, with 96 and 111 points, respectively.
The Lobos will head to Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Friday, October 1st, in South Bend, Ind.