T-Birds (MXC) Place Fourth at NJCAA XC Championships

The NMJC men's cross country team finished in fourth place at the NJCAA DI Men's Cross Country 8k Championships in Huntsville, Ala., at John Hunt Park.

The T-Birds posted a team score of 137 points to come in fourth place behind the winner Trinidad State who finished with 71 points. Colby finished in third with 102 points and Salt Lake came in second with 78 points.

Tomas Vega was the top performer for the T-Birds with his runner-up finish in the race. Vega came across the finish line 5.3 seconds behind JaQuavious Harris with a time of 23:23.30. Vega improved by seven spots in this year's NJCAA Cross Country Championships compared to 2022 and has now finished in the top 3 of every race he has competed in this season. The finish earned Tomas NJCAA All-American and USTFCCCA All-American honors for the second consecutive season.

"Tomas had a great cross country season with this year being one of the best that I've ever had as far as a student athlete," men's cross country head coach Jeff Becker said. "He ran some fast times this year and was able to accomplish a lot of great things being the conference champion, regional champion, and national runner-up. He finishes his cross country career with the school record and course record at Harry McAdams Park and then to come in as national runner up was just outstanding."

Coach Becker said there is something different about Tomas as competitor compared to student-athletes he's had prior.

"He's got that drive where he just wants to win and you could see it in the race on Saturday," Becker said. "He was really coming on at the end and I think if he'd had about 50 meters that he'd have won the race."

German Vega was the second runner in the top 10 for the T-Birds. Vega's seventh-place finish of 23:57.00 earned himself NJCAA All-American and USTFCCCA All-American honors for the second straight season. Vega moved up six spots in this year's NJCAA Cross Country Championships compared to 2022.

Wilson Navarrete was the third runner to pass the finish line for the T-Birds. Navarrete finished in 42nd place with a time of 25:27.20. Marc Pauvert was slightly behind in 43rd place as he came across the line in 25:28.90. Alex Keter was the final runner to factor into the team score. Keter finished in 47th place with a time of 25:41.70.

Paul Maurer finished in 64th place after completing the race in 26:14.80. Cyprien Bille was the final runner for the T-Birds finishing in 27:13.40 to place 111th overall.  

The fourth-place performance in 2023 is one spot better than where the Thunderbirds finished in the 2022 race.

"Overall on the men, we did not get out as well as we should have," Becker said. "I don't know if that's my fault for not going to a bigger meet before nationals, but we just didn't get out on the course. I think we thought that a lot of people would come back to us, or we could make a move later on in the race, but we just ran with the wrong pack of people with our 3,4, and 5 runners."

The season is not over just yet. The men will have all seven runners competing in the NJCAA Half Marathon on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 9:15 a.m. CDT in Huntsville Ala., at John Hunt Park.

The half marathon is similar to cross country with the exception that only three runners are scored compared to five in cross country. The fourth runner can be used to break ties.

"Our men are coming in full strength right now," Becker said. "We don't have any issues coming out of cross country nationals with the couple day turn around like last year. All seven guys that ran in the cross country race will also run the half marathon."

Becker said he is excited to see the T-Birds rebound in the half marathon.

"So, any time that you have everybody running and have the group where they feel like they could have done better in cross country it is good," Becker said. "We've got that extra drive that you want to see. I'm excited for the men I think that they can definitely compete for those top three trophies, and I think it's going to be a good race at the half marathon."

Half Marathon Live Results here.