NM State Cross Country finish in third and fifth at CUSA Championships
BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky (KVIA) -- Following an arduous season including a quartet of regular season meets, the Aggies made their final trek of the season to the 2023 Conference USA Cross Country Championships. In their first meet as members of CUSA, the women’s team took third overall, tied with Liberty behind First Team All-Conference selections Thobile Amon and Thulisile Amon, wihle the men’s team took fifth place, paced by Thomas Croshaw’s 13th place finish.
The Amon twins earned First Team All-Conference honors, while Thomas Croshaw, Emily Stutseman and Maggie Gibbs landed themselves on the second team. In addition, Croshaw was named the Freshman of the Meet, posting a time of 23:42.2.
QUOTABLES
Joseph Rath | NM State Head Coach
“It stings missing [out on the win], but I’m very proud of how hard they competed all year, and we will walk away a lot stronger for it. I liken it to an old ‘Mighty Ducks’ quote: ‘A quarter of an inch and it would’ve gone in. A quarter of an inch the other way and you would’ve missed completely.” The team did an excellent job putting themselves in position all season and in this race.
On the men’s performance: “It was great to see them stick their nose in the race. They were hurting a bit the second half of the race, but it was great to see Anekin [Hetman] and Adams [Biwott] step up today. Thomas as he has all year continued to lead us and did a great job running fearless!
On the women’s performance: We knew the competition between the top three teams would be pretty tight. We had some step up and a few that just had rougher days. The Amon twins did a great job of leading us today!
Thobile Amon | 6th | 21:55.2
“After watching the soccer girls win last night, they inspired me to show up today. They’ve been my inspiration this season. That even when life hits us hard, we should never fold but always shine and come out stronger. I knew that today I’m not going down without a fight. Everyone knew that today was all about showing up and enjoying the race. I’m proud of these ladies.”
Thulisile Amon | 7th | 22:00.3
“Today we ran for Thaila [Chaverria]. This race wasn’t about times but how courageous we can face it! We didn’t go down without a fight. All the teams felt us. Yes, it wasn’t easy it was a tough race. I think that the girls wanted the win. We came here hungry and we are still hungry for more… Just cause we didn’t get the win doesn’t mean we don’t belong cause we do. This is just the start!! I think that what we did here today was phenomenal.”
UP NEXT
A select group of Aggie men and women now turn their attention the NCAA Mountain Regional, hosted by Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas on Nov. 10th. This will be the final meet of the cross country season before turning focus to the indoor track & field season this winter.
