LeBourhis Runs Personal Best, T-Birds Win 4th Meet this Season

Killian LeBourhis had a breakout meet this week with a fourth-place finish of 24:25.50 at the NMJC Invitational III 8k on Friday, Oct. 11.

The personal-best time by LeBourhis was 1:27.00 faster than what he accomplished in the NMJC Invitational II.   

"Killian definitely has a lot of talent, so I think he's just finally getting into our training and adapting to how we train," NMJC men's cross country head coach Jeff Becker said. "The training that's kind of what has propelled him to run a great time like that and to be our leader out front. So, I think that's kind of the main reason why we saw the change this week."

The T-Birds posted a team score of 31 points in the win to finish 31 points ahead of second place Wayland Baptist and 34 points in front of third place Odessa College. The NMJC Invitational III is the fourth win of the year for the Thunderbirds.  

Brian Cheruiyot has continued to retain his spot as the second runner in the lineup. Cheruiyot placed fifth with a time of 24:29.20. The finish is a personal best and is 31.40 seconds faster than what he ran two weeks prior.

"Brian is getting better. I always feel confident with a runner like him. I don't know if it is one of those things where it takes time for them to adapt to our training but most of the time with a Kenyan runner they're going to get better at the end of the year."

Sophomore Paul Maurer broke the 25:00.00 barrier this week for the first time in his career. Maurer came in eighth place with a time of 24:58.20. The finish was an improvement of 28.80 seconds compared to the NMJV Invitational II.

"Paul's a long distance guy. The longer, the better for him. I'm really happy with Paul right now just because he's been working so hard and he battled those injuries last year," Coach Becker said. "There are certain barriers out there that you look to surpass, and one of those was to break under 25 in the 8k. That time is right around a five minute mile pace for the whole distance, and he was able to do that."

Freshman Emmanuel Kimaiyo finished in 10th place with a personal-best time of 25:19.80. Kimaiyo's race was 14.10 seconds better than what we saw at the NMJC Invitational II. 

Cyrus Kimaiyo was the final counting score for the Thunderbirds this week. The freshman finished 15th overall with a time of 25:49.80. The finish was 18.80 seconds quicker than what he accomplished two weeks earlier.  

Cyprien Bille was 17th overall with a finish of 26:00.40. The time was 53.40 seconds better than at the NMJV Invitational II. Romain Gireme placed 20th coming across the line in 26:29.50.

Freshman Israel Takap finished in 22nd place with a time of 26:38.50. Erwan Darrieulat was 24th overall at the NMJC Invitational III with a finish of 26:47.40. The final runner for the T-Birds was Nathan Bonavida who finished 28th with a time of 27:10.70. Bonavida's time this week was the largest improvement the T-Birds have seen this season at 4:32.60. 

The Thunderbirds compete next in the Region V Championships on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 11:30 a.m. MDT in Hobbs, NM at Harry McAdams Park.

"I think this year's regional is going to be difficult," Coach Becker said. "It's probably going to be one of the toughest regional meets we've had in a long time because some of those teams on the north side have started getting better with North Central Texas and Hill College. El Paso reloaded with a great team and then with Odessa bringing a team back. I think it's going to be one of the tougher regionals we've had in a while. I'm still confident that they're going to go out there and give it their all and I believe we have a great chance to come out on top."