Eastern New Mexico University's cross country teams are preparing for their final regular season meet before the Lone Star Conference championships. The teams will compete at the DBU Old Glory Gallop in Fort Worth, Texas, where they will preview the course that will be used for the upcoming conference event.
At their last competition, the NMJC Invitational in Hobbs, several ENMU runners posted strong performances. Emmanuel Hernandez finished with a time of 29:04.3, while Thomas Aerdts led the men's team with a 28:55.1 finish. On the women's side, Chama El Hadiri placed seventh individually with a time of 19:29.7, and three other ENMU women completed the race in under 22 minutes.
The DBU Old Glory Gallop is expected to be the largest meet of the season for Eastern New Mexico University in terms of total competitors. The field includes 43 men's teams and 49 women's teams, with representation from 11 programs within the Lone Star Conference. The men's race is scheduled as an 8k at 8:15 a.m. Central Time, while the women's race is a 5k set for 9:15 a.m. Mountain Time at AP Ranch in Fort Worth.
Freshman Chama El Hadiri is one to watch this weekend after being named Lone Star Conference freshman of the week following her performance at the Texas Tech Open in September. Her best time this year in a 5k is 19:29.7; had she run this time at last year's DBU meet, she would have finished 126th out of 485 participants. For the men’s team, Thomas Aerdts’ top recorded time in an 8k is 28:03.4 from last year’s conference championships; this would have placed him 225th out of 444 runners at last year’s DBU event.
Five men—Thomas Aerdts, Jackson Gable, Emmanuel Hernandez, Brian Norton, and Eloy Serrano-Borrego—will represent ENMU this weekend alongside seven women: Alina Caballero, Chama El-Hadiri, Maya Garcia Schafer, Elizabeth Lujan-Towles, Madison Manuelito, Joella Mathilda, and Valentina Rocabado Salazar.
