Athletic Report
September 7, 2001

JONATHAN GILBERT PLACES 13TH
AT ACU CROSS COUNTRY MEET
ABILENE, TX — Eastern New Mexico University runner Jonathan Gilbert (Jr., Saco, ME/ U. of Massachusetts) placed 13th to lead the Greyhounds at the Abilene Christian University Cross Country Classic, Sept. 7 in Abilene, Texas. Debbie Hernandez (So., Lovington, NM/ Lovington H.S.) placed 15th among all runners as Eastern’s lone entrant in the women’s race.

Abilene Christian won the men’s team title with a score of 19. Tarleton State University scored 47, McMurry University totaled 75 and ENMU scored 82. Angelo State did not field a complete men’s team.

In the women’s division, ACU scored 33, to slip past Angelo State at 41. ACU was third with a score of 59 and McMurry was fourth with 96 points. ENMU did not score. Gilbert finished the 4-mile men’s race in 24:40.76, and was just 11 seconds out of 10th place. Gilbert was, however, 10th among runners who scored for their respective teams.

Benard Manirakiza of ACU was the individual men’s winner, in a time of 21:20.14. He completed the race roughly 56 seconds faster than Jackson Langat of Tarleton State, who took second place in 22:16.27.

In addition to Gilbert, other runners to score for ENMU were Robert Fear (Fr., Artesia, NM/ Artesia H.S.), Laurence Chibvongodze (Fr., Harare, Zimbabwe/Prince Edward H.S.), Jason Mackey (Fr., Hobbs, NM/Hobbs H.S.) and Ryan Cook (Fr., Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva H.S.).

Fear clocked in at 25:20.04 to take 17th overall. Chibvongodze was 19th with a time of 25:46.04. Mackey was 21st overall in 26:51.47, while Cook finished 31st in 28:55.27. Joe Scholer, who also competed for ENMU, clocked in at 35:32.90.

The women’s race was won by Cassie Chaffin of Abilene Christian. She earned a time of 19:43.81 over the 3-mile course. Second place went to Nicole Sharp of Tarleton State, who completed the race in 20:19.51.

Hernandez recorded a time of 23:15.48, and finished just two seconds out of 14th place and just nine seconds out of 13th. Eastern New Mexico will run again on Friday, Sept. 14 at Wayland Baptist University. Race time is set for 5:00 p.m. (MST).