T-Birds men first, Lady T-Birds second at home invite

NEWS-SUN STAFF REPORT

EDUARDO MIRANDA/NEWS-SUN The New Mexico Junior College men's cross country run at their home meet at Harry MC Adams Park Friday afternoon. This is the return of the T-Bird men's cross country program.

The New Mexico Junior College cross-country teams hosted the T-Bird Invite at Harry McAdams Park Friday evening. The invite had seven women's teams and nine men's teams participating. The Lady T-Birds finished in second place overall and the top finisher in the 5k run. The T-Birds, in their home return as a program, finished first overall.

The Lady T-Birds finished with a total time of one hour, 39 minutes, and 33 seconds, with the average running time of 19:54 for 39 points. South Plains finished in first with 26 and Eastern New Mexico in third with 84 points. All six NMJC runners finished in the top 20. Freshman Flomena Asekol finished in first overall with a time of 17:50.4 and sophmore Montserret Rios finished second for NMJC, fifth overall, at 19:37.7. Freshmen Gladys Koech, seventh, finished at 20:02.9 and Britnie Dixon, 10th, at 20:39.4. Freshmen Doris Kitony, 16th, finished at 21:23.7 and Abigael Murgor, 19th, at 21:35.8.

The T-Birds finished in first place in their first home meet since the program returned. They finished with a time of 2:11:31 with an average running time of 26:18 for a score of 47. Freshman Victor Kibet led NMJC finishing in fourth overall with a time of 25:22.1. Freshmen Victor Saldana, seventh, finished with a time of 25:58.9 and Baptiste Depril-Dupre, eighth, finished at 26:07.5. Freshmen Lloyd Frilot, 12th, at 26:48.8 and Devis Cheruiyot, 17th, at 27:14.1 were the runners to finish in the top 20. Freshman Patrick Colborn finished in 21st at 27:30.4 and Javon'Taye Williams came in 32nd at 28:20.4 for NMJC.

The University of the Southwest men's cross-country team participated in the invite finishing in eight place overall, but the women's team did not participate.

USW did have two women runners participate as individuals, Edit Herrera and Alexandria Adams. Herrera, a junior, finished in 22nd overall at 22:02.1 and senior Alexandria Adams finished in 31st at 22:59.6.

The Mustangs finished in eight as a team with a time of 2:48:01 with an average time of 33:36 for 216 points. Freshman Cody Smith led USW finishing in 27th overall with a time of 28:00.2.