NMJC Men’s XC Ties for Third, Finishes in Fourth at Half-Marathon

The New Mexico Junior College men's cross country finished in a tie for third place with Iowa Central in the NJCAA Men's Half-Marathon Championships at Miller's Landing Road in Tallahassee, Fla. The tiebreaker went to Iowa Central via the fourth runner's finish.

The half-marathon score is compiled from the top three finishers on the team. The T-Birds finished with a team total score of 27, just nine points behind the National Champion Northwest Kansas Tech College Mavericks (18).  

The fourth-place finish is the best half-marathon finish in school history with the prior record coming in 2021 when the men placed eighth overall.

Head coach Jeff Becker said he was pleased with the team's performance given the difficulty that surrounds the half-marathon.  

"Training for the half-marathon is a lot different than training for the 5k and 8k in cross country," Becker said. "I think we handled the adjustments and distances well. However, you also have to factor in running the cross country race. You never know how a kid is going to recover with it just being three days after cross country nationals. I also felt like the course was challenging for us because of the hills that were on the course, where we are not used to training and running on hills."

Freshman German Vega set the school record for NMJC in the NJCAA Men's Half-Marathon Championship coming in fifth place with a time of 1:07:46. The Argentinian's time beat fellow teammate Evans Pololet's 2021 record of 1:10:27.

Aspel Kiprob of Iowa Central finished in first place for the second consecutive year (1:07:12).

Freshman Tomas Vega finished in seventh place running a time of 1:08:19 and sophomore Evans Pololet placed 15th overall finishing in a career best 1:10:11.

Sophomore Chris Korir finished 21st with a career best time of 1:11:55 and sophomore David Hernandez placed in 34th running a career best 1:16:20.

German Vega (5th) earned NJCAA All-American and USTFCCCA All-American honors for his performance in the NJCAA Half-Marathon Championships. Vega's finish in the NJCAA Half-Marathon earns him the first NJCAA All-American honors for the T-Birds in men's program history.

"German Vega was our first ever NJCAA All-American on the men's side in the half-marathon," Becker said. "He ran great especially considering the fact that on Saturday during the 8k race he developed blisters on the bottom of his foot. We were concerned that he wouldn't be able to go just three days later, but he came out and still ran an outstanding race."

Tomas Vega (7th) and Evans Pololet (15th) also earned USTFCCCA All-American honors for the Thunderbirds.

"The men as a team competed really strong," Becker said. "We were able to tie for third with 27 points. It came down to the tie breaker where it falls on the fourth runner. That was really close as well. We tied with Iowa Central. Their fourth runner and our fourth runner Chris Korir were battling neck and neck, but Iowa Central's runner was able to get ours right at the end. But overall, that is the best finish the men have ever had at the NJCAA Half-Marathon Championship."

Coach Becker said it is a bittersweet feeling finishing up the cross country season, but he is proud of what his teams have been able to accomplish throughout this historic season.

"Overall, we had a very successful trip to Florida for the nationals in cross country and in the half-marathon," Becker said. "These were top finishes for our programs. The women in cross country tied the best ever season with a second-place finish. The men had the best finish in cross country since we brought our team back. For both teams, their finish in the half-marathon was the best we ever had in school history. So, I think right now we are headed in the right direction with what we have been doing."