Staff Report
The UNM men's and women's cross country teams continued their success this weekend in a triumphant return to the UNM North Golf Course for the Lobo Invitational.
The Lobo men won its second consecutive tournament while cruising to 21-point victory over second place Air Force Academy.
The women's team also had a strong showing while placing second behind the Falcon women.
The UNM men's team used a strong team effort to remain undefeated on the season while placing first in the 12-team field.
Ben Ortega led the men for most of the race. He ran alongside Ben Payne of Air Force, ahead of the rest of the pack.
At the halfway point, Lobo runner Cameron Clarke, picked up the pace and desperately tried to track down Payne. He came close while passing Ortega in the final 800 meters but could not quite catch Payne who won by two seconds.
Ortega finished in third, four seconds behind Clark. Junior Matthew Gonzales and freshman Jeremy Johnson finished in fourth and fifth respectively for the Lobos.
On the women's side, super sophomore Jacquelyne Gallegos led the team while defending champion Sarah Gonzales of UNM was not able to run due to illness.
Gallegos ran in second place wire-to-wire while completing the 6,000-meter course in 22:45, 41 seconds behind New Mexico State winner Rachael Cuellar. Sophomore Racquel Ricci and freshman Janice Tosa rounded out the top three UNM runners finishing in 11th and 12th. The Lobos men and women travel to Palo Alto, Calif. next in two weeks for the prestigious Stanford Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 28.
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