Meet One
Lori Fitzgerald Invitational
Saturday, Sep. 3 | 7:30 a.m. MT (women's race | 5K) • 8:00 a.m. MT (men's race | 5K) | Las Cruces, N.M. | NM State Golf Course
Live Results
THE STARTING LINE
• For the second consecutive year, the NM State men's and women's cross country teams will race in Las Cruces. The Aggies will serve as the host institution for the 2022 Lori Fitzgerald Memorial Open which is set to take place at the NM State Golf Course Saturday morning.
• Both the men's and women's races are of the five-kilometer variety and action begins with the women's race at 7:30 a.m. The gun for the men's race will go off at 8:00 a.m.
THE FIELD
• In total, Four institutions are sending student-athletes to complete in the meet. In addition to NM State's men's and women's cross country teams, the squads from El Paso Community College, UTEP and Mesalands Community College will all make the trip to Las Cruces for this weekends meet. UTEP, EPCC, and NM State are the only three schools that will compete in the women's race, and all four programs will compete in the men's race.
ABOUT THE AGGIES | MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
• The Aggies men's team is coming off an eighth place finish at last years WAC Cross Country Championships. Only five runners from that race will be returning for the 2022 season - Anekin Hetman, Micah Too, Nick Ortiz, Jacob Grosch and Dylan Sanchez.
• Hetman and Too are the only runners who finished in the top-50 of that race. They were also two of the three men's runners that competed in the NCAA Mountain Regional in Provo, Utah last year.
• Looking to impress in their inaugural seasons are Nick Allred, Javen Chavez, Diego Logan-Beshad, Laith Quteifan and Collins Yego.
• Christian Barreto is another newcomer to the program looking to make a splash. Last season, Barreto ran cross country for Central Arizona at the Junior College level. His best time came at the Highlander Invitational (Oct. 16) posting a time of 28:05.6. He also finished tenth in the 8k at the NJCAA Region I Cross Country Championships (Oct. 29), crossing the line with a time of 29:06.5.
ABOUT THE AGGIES | WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
• The women's team is coming off a fourth place finish at last years WAC Championships, which saw five Aggies finish in the top-30. All five of the Aggies top five finishers will be returning for this upcoming season.
- •Richelle Sandin (20:50.3, 12th) and Maggie Gibbs (20:57.8, 16th) were among those four and were recognized for their performance throughout the year after being selected to the All-WAC Second Team.
- •All of the Aggies' top five finishers placed among the fastest 27 runners at the WAC Championships. Thobile Amon narrowly missed out on an All-WAC honor, placing 22nd in a time of 21:20.0 while Emily Stutesman generated a 24th-place finish by posting a time of 21:32.0.
- • Mia Regan (41st, 22:25.7) and Kayla O'Connell (57th, 23:00.2) rounded out NM State's contingent of runners at last years WAC Championships. The two runners will be returning as well.
- • Making their collegiate debuts are incoming freshman Samantha Ramirez and Jordan Torres. The two runners come to us from the Sun City of El Paso, Texas. Torres by way of Franklin HS and Ramirez from San Elizario HS.
- •Ramirez set a personal record at the Texas UIL 4A State Championships last year after posting a 12:45.0 in the 3.2K. Also recorded a few first place finishes in the UIL 4A District championship (Oct. 25) and the Tortillo/San Elizario Invitational (Aug. 1).
- • Torres is coming of a year where she had five separate top-five finishes in the 5k while running at San Elizario HS. She set a personal record at the El Paso ISD Invitational on Sep. 11 after crossing the line with a 19.07.1 finish.
COMING UP NEXT
Following the Lori Fitzgerald Open, the Aggies will have just about two weeks before taking part in their next competition. The Aggies will be headed to Lubbock, Texas for the Texas Tech Open on Sep. 17. After that, they will have one more meet in the month of September before the last meet on Oct. 15. Then it's time to head to Nacogdoches, Texas for the 2022 WAC Championships.
For complete coverage of NM State men's and women's cross country throughout the 2021 season, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics - and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Track/XC), Twitter (@NMStateXCTF) and Instagram (@NMStateXCTF).
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