Freshman Juan Blanco races neck-to-neck with an NMSU runner
Attempting to qualify for the NCAA Championships Nov. 21, UTEP will travel to Provo, Utah, for the NCAA Mountain Regional Nov. 12 at Terre Haute, Ind .
"Initially, we are preparing to get the whole team in the national meet through the regional meet," head coach Pail Ereng said. "As we competed in the conference meet, we realized that our team wasn't deep enough, and as we go to the competition, we will have a few individuals place in both the women and men section."
Junior Risper Kimaiyo is the returning champion of the regional after her winning the event in 2010. Kimaiyo not only won the regional, but became the first woman in program history to win an NCAA competition with a course record time of 20:02. During her freshman year at the regional, Kimaiyo helped the team with a fourth-place finish at 20:46 in the 6k run.
According to junior Solomon Gardea , who ran at the regional last year in Salt Lake City, Utah, this year's location could play a factor. Provo is a landscape made up of rocky terrain, cold weather and high altitudes. For most cross-country teams, these add a secondary challenge to the competition to get to the NCAA Championships.
"As far as cross-country, we are pretty confident," Gardea said. "The only thing that could be a factor is that we are not familiar with the course and its high altitude, which affects us. Weather is also a factor, but everyone has to run in those conditions."
At UTEP's last event, the C-USA Championships Oct. 31, Gardea gained All-Conference USA second team honors with a season-best time of 24:30 and placed 12th in the men's 8k-championship run. Last season, Gardea took 55th place at the Mountain Regional with a time of 31:30 in the regional.
"We have to watch out for individuals from high-ranking teams who did well last year and those who are excelling this year," Ereng said. "UNM was one of the top programs last year, but this year they are not as high. But they have very deep individuals."
Junior Justice Chirchir is coming off a 2011 C-USA Championship when he finished Oct. 31 with a time of 23:39. Chirchir was the 29th runner across the finish line at last year's Mountain Regional.
"We are really looking forward to the regional competition," Chirchir said. "Our regionals are very competitive. We are number nine now in the competition and the teams qualifying are going to be extremely difficult, but we are going to try."
Junior Elkana Rotich followed Chirichir back at the C-USA Championship this year, placing second and just 12 seconds slower. The men's team took second place overall in the competition with a score of 48 points, only 13 points shy of the champion, Tulsa.
In the women's 5k , Kimaiyo finished in second at the C-USA Championship and was named All-Conference-USA First Team honors. Kimaiyo clocked in at a season-best time of 16:14. Freshman Jackline Ekai came behind Kimaiyo and posted a career-high of 18:23, coming in 29th place.
The women's team placed fifth in the competition with 162 points, while SMU took first with 57. Last year, the women's team finished with 218 at the Mountain Regional and placed seventh out of 19 teams.
"You have to be prepared for anything," Chirchir said. "The other schools are strategizing in order to get more individuals to qualify, but we are strategizing too. I hope it works out in our favor."
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