CANYON, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico cross country program started out the 2019 season with a fourth place finish on the women’s side and a sixth place finish on the men’s side at the Buffalo Stampede in Canyon, Texas on Friday evening.
The women’s team was led by fourth and fifth place individual finishes by junior Aminata Kenyawani and senior Evaline Cheptoo. Kenyawani finished just seconds ahead of Cheptoo, the reigning Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year, with times of 15:30.1 and 15:47.1 in the 4K race.
Junior Jessie Madrid recorded a 10th place finish on the men’s side following a time of 20:03.1 to pace the men’s team. Freshman Jon Fuentes impressed in his collegiate debut to provide valuable support of Madrid with a time of 20:17.8 and a 14th place finish in the 6K race.
The two squads finished with 90 and 139 points respectfully, with the women’s side finishing behind only CSU-Pueblo, West Texas A&M and Lubbock Christian, and defeated the other two Lone Star Conference schools at the meet by over 70 points. The men’s team impressed with 139 points thanks to the two quality finishes from Madrid and Fuentes, and will look to continue to work themselves up the leaderboard as the season moves along.
That improvement will largely depend on the development of freshman Alejandro Chavez and track-standout Ivar Moinat, who finished in 32nd and 33rd place with times of 21:16.1 and 21:31.2. Both athletes will be vital in the team’s standings come season’s end as two more solid times to pair along with Madrid and Fuentes would prove crucial in the team’s success moving forward.
The women’s team figures to continue to compete among the conference’s best as they remained consistent in the opening meet of the 2019 season with four runners finishing in the top half of the final standings and no runner finishing outside of the top 40 with 67 total runners competing. Junior Kayla Sisneros proved to be another valuable addition to head coach Jeff Kavalunas squad with a 16th place finish and a time of 16:45.4 after transferring in from New Mexico Military institute.
For a full list of results, see the attached documents above.
Eastern New Mexico cross country will be back in action on Sept. 21st at the Texas Tech Invitational in Lubbock, Texas.
