Lobo Men Win Lori Fitzgerald Open, Women Finish 4th
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico Men’s Cross Country packed all five competitors into the overall Top 10 to win the Lori Fitzgerald Open in its first rust-buster of the 2024 season on Saturday morning, with the Lobo women finishing fourth behind a runner-up finish from Tina Nisoli.
Lobo newcomer Iker Sanchez (14:35.47) placed third to lead five Lobos that cracked the overall Top 10 in the men’s 5K race to secure the win with 27 points – behind him, Vincent Chirchir (14:36.12), Rikus Van Niekirk (14:37.94) and Lukas Kiprop (14:39.12) finished fourth through sixth in succession, with true freshman Corne De Fouw (14:47.64) also cracking the Top 10 with a ninth-place finish in his collegiate debut.
The UNM men outpaced second-place Texas Tech – whose Top 5 runners combined for 35 points – for the win, with both programs boatracing the rest of a field that also included Arizona (4th, 125 points), UTEP (5th, 146 points) and host New Mexico State (6th, 178 points)
In the women’s 5K, UNM finished with 101 total points in the team score – Tina Nisoli (17:22.0) was the second-fastest finisher of the day, with freshman Anya Belisle (9th, 18:08.76) joining her in the Top 10. Nisoli’s time was 17.7 seconds faster than her previous cross country 5K personal best.
Stefana Purkovic (25th, 18:51.76) followed with a 5K personal best of her own and Maleah Goldie (30th, 19:06.84) and Hannah Taylor (35th, 19:19.81) comprised the rest of UNM’s point-scorers on the women’s side, with Sylvia Schwedler (36th, 19:21.35), Lyla Fedio (44th, 19:43.71) and Fiona Holloway (19:57.45) rounding things out to keep all eight runners in the Top 50 overall. Belisle, Taylor, Schwedler, Fedio and Holloway were all making their collegiate debuts.
This story will be updated.