Kachouri Wins Inaugural ENMU-Ruidoso Open 

Amal Kachouri won her first race of the season at the inaugural ENMU-Ruidoso Open on Friday, Oct. 4. 

Kachouri trudged through the hills and crisp mountain air to finish on top with a time of 19:35.00. The Tunisian has won two cross country races in her career at NMJC. 

"I didn't know exactly where Amal was physically, but I thought that maybe if she could stay close to the top two from El Paso, that would be good, but she exceeded that," NMJC women's cross country head coach Jeff Becker said. "She raced with them for the first part, but then wasn't too much past the mile, and probably a little bit before halfway, she just kind of pulled away, and didn't really look back on them. So, it shows that she's getting back to her form from where she was last year."

Hadil Chiha was the only other competitor for the women's team this week in Ruidoso, NM. The sophomore finished seventh with a time of 23:01.00. She likely would have finished in the top five if not for a misguidance on the course that resulting in her running an extra ¼ mile. 

"Hadil looked great. When we saw her just past the mile marker, she looked great," Coach Becker said. "Then, she goes through kind of those rolling hills, and then next thing we know, we see her going the wrong direction, not only the wrong direction, but the wrong direction straight up the hill. So, it was a tough break, but I don't think that should take away from the effort that she had and the performance she had. She's coming around and hopefully going to be a that solid fifth that we need." 

"So, I was really happy with both Amal and Hadil," Coach Becker said. "I mean, I think we could have ran more ladies out there for the meet, but again, I kind of played more towards the caution there a little bit and sitting some of them out and not running."

NMJC was shorthanded this week with six student-athletes out to injury or rest. 

Yididiya Bifa, Ines Mrabet, Lindsey Lopes, Lisel Ndlovu, Alejandra Sierra, and Elsa Gueret all did not race this week. 

"The ladies, we're trying to get a team back out there and run as a group again and kind of see where we're at against some of the toughest teams in junior college," Becker said.

NMJC will compete in the Thunderbird Open at 9 a.m. MDT Friday, Oct. 10 at Harry McAdams Park in Hobbs, NM.