LAWTON, Okla. – Eastern New Mexico men's and women's cross country began the 2024 season at Cameron University Friday morning.
The women's program began the meet with a 5k race with 82 competitors from ten different institutions. ENMU's top performer was
Elizabeth Lujan-Towles who beat out the 20-minute mark with a 19:59.95 time to finish in 28th. Her teammates Valentina Rocabado (21:31.95) and
Sanne Janssen (21:45.27) were not far behind as they all placed in the top-60 among the field.
"I'm happy to be back in competition," said assistant cross country coach
Keyanah Browning. "The women's program had a positive start to the season, including some new personal records for all three runners."
As for the men, they finished in seventh out of eight teams in the meet.
Bryan Hernandez led the way for ENMU with a 33
rd place result with a time of 27:59.40. Two other Hounds earned top-50 individual marks with
Justin Sauceda completing the event in 28:41.58 and
Jackson Gable doing so in 29:20.16.
Also finishing for Eastern was
Ethan Woodrome (30:01.00) and Aaron Marin-Plascenia (31:24.80).
"The first race always is a good indicator where we are at. It was a nice season opener for such a young team," said Browning after the race. "Our focus is to continue improving as we prepare for future meets."
ENMU saw some familiar competition as three other LSC schools raced in the meet – West Texas A&M, Midwestern State, and Cameron.
The Greyhounds will compete at the Mustang Derby on September 12 in Wichita Falls, Texas. The meet will be held at the MSU Campus Course with a start time of 7:30 p.m. CT.
