It was a record-breaking day for senior Mercy Rotich as the Eastern New Mexico cross country program competed at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival hosted by the University of Arkansas at Alvi Park on Saturday.
In the women’s 5k event, Rotich shattered the Eastern New Mexico school record time, crossing the finish line in 17:37.70 to place 12th overall in the 424-competitor field. Rotich broke her own school record that she set at last week’s Texas Tech Open when she came away with a second-place time of 18:04.70, eclipsing the previous record of 18:07.78 set by Amber Saiz in 2015.
Overall, the women’s team placed 21st out of 51 teams and finished seventh among NCAA Division II competition while the men came away with 38th place overall and 17th among Division II opponents.
Mason Swanson turned in a strong performance in the women’s race, setting a personal-best time of 19:06.20 to place 93rd overall while Evaline Cheptoo also set a personal-best time with a 19:09.50 to finish in the top 100.
In the men’s 8k race, senior Shane Walsh turned in the best time for the Greyhounds, setting a personal-best time of 26:31.70 to come away with 109th overall. Walsh’s run broke his previous best 8k time of 26:49.10 set in the 2016 Lone Star Conference Championships. Lorenzo Juarez turned in another solid time with a 28:11.20, topping his season-best time of 29:22.00 set in last week’s Texas Tech Open.
For a complete list of the results, see the official race results in the link above. The Greyhounds will return to the course on Sept. 28 as they will travel to Hobbs, N.M. to compete in the New Mexico Junior College Invite.
