HOBBS, NM--- The Mustang Cross Country program took the short jog across the street to the Harry McAdams Park as they competed in the 2019 NMJC Cross Country Invitational. The meet is the 3rd of the year for the Mustangs and Head Coach Jessica Becker was proud of the performanes from her Runnin' Stangs. 

"The Mustangs ran well today! It's always fun to run in front of our hometown crowd. I was very proud of the efforts from all of our runners! It's shaping up to be a fun season. Freshman Cody Smith ran a huge personal record from last week and sophomore Edit Herrera lead the women with a season best. Next week we race the South Plains College Invitational." said Coach Becker after Friday's meet. 

For the 2nd week in a row, freshman Cody Smith was the top finisher for the Mustangs running the 8K race in 28:00. This was a 1 minute and 38 second improvement from his time in last week's Texas Tech Open. Smith's time was good for 27th place in a tough field. Nikolas Salazar was the next Mustangs across the line with a time of 33:36.01. Samuel Suarez, Devin Montoya and Jackson Warrer rounded out the rest of the Runnin' Stangs. Suarez improved on his time from last week by over 4 minutes. 

Lovington native Edit Herrera finished in 22nd place with a season best time of 22:01.10 in the Women's 5K race. Alexandria Adams finished behind her with a time of 22:59.58. Newcomer Verronica Barrot finished the race with a time of 24:32.32. Jakeline Blea rounded out the pack with a time of 31:05.48. 

The Mustangs are back in action next weekend as they travel to Levelland, TX to compete in the South Plains Invite hosted by South Plains College.