Cross Country Places Well at West Texas A&M
Sanchez Finishes 11th for Men, Chavez Finishes 21st for Women

CANYON, TEXAS — Orlando Sanchez (Jr., Los Lunas, NM/Los Lunas HS) placed 11th in the men’s race and Lynnae Chavez (Jr., Cimarron, NM/Cimarron HS) took 21st in the women’s race, as the Eastern New Mexico University cross country teams opened the 2004 season Sept. 3 at the West Texas A&M University Season Opener. The ENMU men did not field a complete team, while the women placed fifth out of seven teams.

Sanchez, who finished the 4-mile course in 22:59 missed the top 10 by just seven seconds. He was only 24 seconds out of sixth place as the top 16 runners finished in under 23:10. Ricardo Hernandez (So., Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad HS) took 19th place with a time of 23:15. Jason Garcia (Fr.) placed 21st after completing the course in 23:39. Clint Bizzell (Jr., Odessa, TX/Permian HS) clocked in at 28:42 for a 45th place finish.

In the women’s race, Chavez concluded the 5-kilometer course in 23:27 to place 21st overall and 15th among scorers. Brittany Bauer (Fr.) crossed the finish line shortly after Chavez, and took 23rd place overall (17th among scorers) in 23:48. Lindsey Roberts (Fr.) claimed 28th place (22nd) with a time of 24:18, and Joyce Doan (So.) was 36th overall (28th) at 25:20. Laura Shorty (So., Crownpoint, NM/Crownpoint HS) provided Eastern’s final team points, as she clocked in at 25:58 for 39th place (31st). Lisa Lopez (So., Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad HS) rounded out ENMU’s entries two seconds later with a 40th place finish (32nd) in 26:00.

The men’s individual champion was Nimrod Kipteu of Wayland Baptist University. He ran the course in 21:39 to win by 22 seconds over Trent Joseph of Angelo State University, who finished in 22:01. Eddie Lopez of New Mexico Highlands University and teammate Aaron Sanchez clocked in just one second apart, and took third and fourth with times of 22:12 and 22:13, respectively.

Angelo State won the men’s title with a score of 43. Wayland Baptist followed in second with a score of 51, and held off New Mexico Highlands, which finished third at 52 points. Meadow City Track Club was fourth at 76, West Texas A&M University placed fifth at 131, McMurry College ended the race in sixth at 145 and Oklahoma Panhandle State University was seventh at 188.

In the women’s race, Gina Ortiz of New Mexico Highlands won medalist honors with a time of 21:14. She crossed the finish line one second in front of teammate Katelin Engard. Third place went to Rachel Ingram of Southwestern Oklahoma in a time of 21:25, while fourth place was won by Tabitha Harmonson from Wayland Baptist in 21:31.

ASU also won the women’s team title, as the Rambelles placed five runners in the top eight to post a score of 29. New Mexico Highlands took second at 58, while West Texas A&M placed third at 106. New Mexico Junior College claimed fourth place at 108, with ENMU taking fifth at 113 and McMurry earning sixth at 116. Oklahoma Panhandle State was seventh at 158.

The ENMU cross country teams will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 11 at the University of New Mexico Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque. The 6-kilometer women’s race is slated to begin at 9:20 a.m. MDT, with the men’s 8-kilometer race to follow at 9:50 a.m.