Lobos Wrap Up Lori Fitzgerald Open

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico Cross Country kicked off the 2023 season at the Lori Fitzgerald Open on Saturday morning, with the Lobo men finishing second in the team score and the women finishing fourth.

The UNM men actually tied with first-place New Mexico JC with 41 points in the team points tally, dropping the tiebreaker but still finishing ahead of UTEP (78 points), Western New MExico (101 points), New Mexico State (109 points) and El Paso CC (136 points).

The Lobo women finished with 111 points, ahead of Western New Mexico (128 points) and El Paso CC (140 points).

Yehonatan Haim led the way for the men with a fourth-place individual finish, crossing the finish line in 14:54.73 to clock in within five seconds of overall winner Victor Kibiego of UTEP (14:49.04). Following Haim was Matthew Larkin (6th, 15:05.71), Thomas Termote (8th, 15:10.70) and Samuel Field (9th, 15:12.27) to make it four Lobos in the Top 10. Ethan Brouw (16th, 15:32.53) and Luke Cunningham (22nd, 15:52.87) rounded out UNM’s point-scorers. 

In the women’s race, Stefana Purkovic was the highest-placing Lobo in her UNM debut, finishing 8th overall with an 18:52.45 time. Behind her was fellow newcomer Maleah Goldie (12th, 19:13.13), followed by Camille Jackson (26th, 20:19.38), Ophelia Pulley (55h, 27:14.03), Kora Pettengill (56th, 27:19.84), Suriah Washington (57th, 34:50.00) and Nia Mamuya (58th, 34:53.41) to round things out.

UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE RACE
UNM hosts the Lobo Invitational next Saturday, with one more rust-busting opportunity before the two biggest regular-season races of the year at the Roy Griak Invitational (Sep. 22) and Nuttycombe Invitational (Oct. 13). Live results will be available via GoLobos.com, with full race coverage and other behind-the-scenes content at @UNMLoboTFXC on IG and @UNMLoboXCTF on X.