Athletic Report
November 8, 1999

ENMU RUNNERS COMPETE AT NCAA REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY MEET
HAYS, KS — Eastern New Mexico University’s top cross country runners competed at the NCAA Division II South Central Region Meet on Sat., Nov. 6. The event, hosted by Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., featured a 10-kilometer race in the men’s division and an 6-kilometer race in the women’s division.

ENMU was represented by Hawk Harris (Sr., Hobbs, NM/Hobbs H.S.) and David Gonzalez (So., Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad H.S.) in the men’s race and by Veronica Samaniego (Sr., Senora, TX/Senora H.S.) and Mindy Clark (Jr., Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad H.S.) in the women’s race.

Harris finished 57th out of 102 competitors in a personal best time of 34:58. Gonzalez completed the 10-K course in 35:35 to take 70th place.

Samaniego took 51st in the women’s race, finishing in 24:34. Clark took 94th with a time of 26:26. A total of 113 runners competed in the women’s division.

Western State College claimed the men’s team title, with a score of 26. Adams State College took second with a score of 51, followed by Abilene Christian University in third (89), New Mexico Highlands University in fourth (164) and the University of Nebraska-Kearney in fifth (170).

Those five teams also advanced to the NCAA Division II National Championships, along with individuals Trent Briney (10th place) from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Jerry Maritim (15th place) from Harding University.

The individual men’s champion was Michael Aish of Western State, who clocked in at 30:02 and won by 36 seconds over Jason Hubbard of Adams State, who completed the race in 30:38.

In the women’s division, Adams State won the team title, finishing with a score of 25. Western State earned second place with a score of 35 and Harding University took third place with a score of 131. CU-Colorado Springs finished in fourth (137) and Texas A&M-Commerce took fifth (171).

The top three teams, plus Anna Williams (8th place) of New Mexico Highlands and Kira Claussen (13th place) of CU-Colorado Springs, advanced to the NCAA Division II National Championships. Jennifer Michel of Western State took home medalist honors, winning the race in 21:07 and finishing with a 17-second lead. Sarah Parkey of Adams State finished second with a time of 21:24.

A total of 16 men’s teams and 19 women’s teams competed in the event. With only its top two male and top two female runners competing, ENMU did not record team scores.