The South Plains College cross country teams opened the season in September a strong showing at the NMJC Dr. Steve Mc-Clerry Invitational in Hobbs, New Mexico, as the Texans raced to a fourth-place finish and the Lady Texans earned third overall.
Highlighting the day for SPC was Zyla Deshone, who set the pace in the women’s race and captured the individual title with a firstplace time of 19:52.40. Ylies Mihoubi crossed the finish line in 10th place with a time of 27:01.51 and scoring nine points for the Texans. Dhia Romdhani followed closely behind, finishing 12th and contributing 11 points with a time of 27:10.97.
Grayson Hastings added 20 points with a time of 27:53.43, followed by Nahashon Ruto with 22 points in 28:02.99.
Donovan Martinez contributed 23 points with a time of 28:12.17, while Rico Enriquez finished in 28:14.19 for 24 points. Christian Sanchez rounded out the group in 29:51.79, contributing 34 points.
Other Texans competing included Leo Jost (30:20.84), Kanyon Cantrell (31:21.33), Andrew Metrailer (31:34.10) and Josiah Nguyen (33:10.24).
New Mexico Junior College won the men’s team title with 39 points, followed by Western New Mexico with 45 points and Western Texas College with 85 points. South Plains finished ahead of Texas Tech, Southwest New Mexico, Wayland Baptist and ENMU-Ruidoso.
Western New Mexico won the women’s team competition with 32 points, followed by Western Texas College with 60. South Plains finished just two points behind Western Texas with 62 and edged host New Mexico Junior College, which finished with 63 points.
SPC cross country continued their cross country season on Sept. 18 at the Texas Tech Open at the LCU Cross Country Course, competing against a strong field that included NCAA Division I and Division II programs.
Facing stiff competition, SPC walked away with valuable experience and several impressive performances as the Texans finished 10th overall and the Lady Texans placed 12th.
Zyla Deshone once again led the way for South Plains, crossing the finish line in 24:09.0 and collecting 32 points. Jennifer Lozano followed with a time of 25:17.2 and 45 points, while Amandine Pimont recorded a time of 25:53.8 and contributed 54 points.
Icela Swaby finished in 27:31.9 and added 64 points, while Carmen Smith rounded out the Lady Texans’ scoring with a time of 29:44.6 and 74 points.