NMJC (MXC) Finishes 7th in Las Cruces

The Thunderbird women's cross country team finished in seventh place behind five Division I programs Saturday, Aug. 31 at the Lori Fitzgerald Memorial Open 5k in Las Cruces, NM

The T-Birds ended the meet with 167 points, which was 140 points behind first-place finisher New Mexico. NMJC was the second junior college finisher at the meet. El Paso CC took down the Thunderbirds by 48 points. The T-Birds were in front of eighth place NJCAA DII Mesa CC by eight points.

Mohammed Mrahi was the top performer for the Thunderbirds at the 5k with a time of 15:17.24. The freshman from Morocco placed 21st overall in his second race with the Thunderbirds.

Brian Cheruiyot was slightly behind Mrahi in 26th place with a 15:36.93 finish. Emmanuel Kimaiyo was in 39th place coming across the line in 16:04.40.

Romain Gireme placed 53rd overall on Saturday with a finish of 16:23.81. Freshman Killian LeBourhis was 55th in the race with a time of 16:25.82 to complete the team score.

Israel Takap moved up three spots from ninth to sixth in the lineup this week. The Papua New Guinea native was 58th in Las Cruces with a time of 16:27.34.

Sophomore Paul Maurer came in at 59th place with a time of 16:29.16. Cyrus Kimaiyo was a spot behind in 60th place finishing in 16:34.60.  

Erwan Darrieulat placed 63rd coming across the line with a time of 16:41.60. Cyprien Bille improved by 24.70 seconds at this year's Lori Fitzgerald Memorial Open 5k finishing in 64th place with a time of 17:06.90. Nathan Bonavida was the final member of the team out on the course. The freshman placed 78th in the race with a time of 17:45.00.  

"The guys got an eye opener a little bit with this meet," men's cross country head coach Jeff Becker said. "Our first meet was a little bit lower competition, and then this mee we ran against some tough teams. The men just kind of saw what it truly means to be a collegiate cross country runner and we weren't ready for it." 

"That's partly my fault, but we weren't ready for it this week. Now the biggest thing is we've got to work as a group and get better."

The Thunderbirds will have two weeks off before they travel to Lubbock, Texas for the Texas Tech Invitational starting at 8:15 a.m. CDT on Friday, Sept. 13 at the LCU Cross Country Course.