South Plains Cross Country Sweeps New Mexico Junior College Invitational

HOBBS—Another week. Another sweep.

The South Plains College men's and women's cross country teams picked up a pair of first-place finishes on Friday evening at the New Mexico Junior College Invitational at Harry McAdams Park.

The Texans entered the meet ranked fourth in the USTFCCCA polls and proved worthy of such ranking placing four runners inside the top five and six inside the top 10. Felix Kosgei earned his fourth top finish in as many weeks in the men's 8k with a time of 24:20.27. Andrew Bosquez turned in a second place finish with a mark of 24:41.09, while Filmon Beyene and Erick Arambula placed fourth and fifth with times of 25:01.09 and 25:13.50.

"Our guys came out today and simply got after it," South Plains assistant coach Frank Barker said. "There was a time in there early in the race where I wasn't quite sure, and it seemed like all at once they got into a groove and really took off. I'm very happy with the way they competed and got after it."

The Lady Texans were just as impressive in the women's 5k placing three runners inside the top five, led by sophomore standout Leslie Romero. A week after earning her first collegiate victory for the orange and blue, Romero placed second on Friday with a dazzling time of 18:37.70. South Plains' Seselia Dala placed third with a mark of 19:16.30, while Poro Gahekave placed fifth with a time of 19:36.29.

"You can see some of the kids that we've competed against that the weather really affected, and I don't think it really affected our kids at all," South Plains head coach Erik Vance said. "It's always a positive to come into New Mexico and beat them, and we know they're going to come back and be hungry next week. Leslie continued the run that she's on and pushed the winner all the way to the line, and this just shows me they'll come out and compete in whatever the conditions are."

South Plains will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 7 when they host the South Plains College Open in Levelland.