March 28, 2024

SWCC men runners struggle in New Mexico

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Southwestern was unable to make it work at the NJCAA Div. I championships at University of New Mexico North Golf Course Saturday, falling struggling against some of the nations best teams and runners.

The Spartan men didn’t get the start they wanted en route to a 34th place finish as a team with a score of 856.

“It was a tight start and I should have had them get out a little faster than I did,” said SWCC head coach Trey Bruton. “I tried to have control a little bit because at that altitude I knew we didn’t want to go into oxygen deprivation too early. I take some of the blame on that, overall I’m still pleased. They did their best and it’s what we ask of them.”

The high-altitude course for the championship at UNM North Golf Course sat at the lofty altitude of 5,085 feet above sea level. The 3,773 foot difference to Creston (1,312 feet) made it a slightly different pre-race prep for the Spartans entering Saturday.

Bruton had a well calculated game plan to ensure the Spartans’ trip to New Mexico gave them the best possible chance to put up good numbers.

“Our plan was to make sure we didn’t get there more than 24 hours in advance,” said Bruton. “There’s kind of a 24 to 48 hour window that you have to hit and it’s better to be closer to the 24 hour window for physiological benefits of it. I think (our plan) worked fine, I think we weren’t struggling. ... I think we gave them the best opportunity they could have running at an altitude that is never going to be easy to run at.”

The winner of the NJCAA Div. I race was Cloud County (Kansas), posting a team score of89 with four of its five scoring runners placing between 10th and 20th. The individual winner was Wesley Banguira, running a time of 22:55.58 for Colby (Kansas).

Iowa Central’s team placed third with 140 points. Iowa Western placed eighth with 281 points and North Iowa Area was 18th (540 points).

For SWCC, Colin Shreve’s time of 27:27.33 was the leading number. He was 117th fastest in a field of 343.

Josh Carsten’s time of 27:59.46 was 143rd quickest and Cedrick Watson was 162nd at 28:14.58. Nicolae Vandoor (29:26.70) and Austin Lundy (29:52.16) rounded out scoring for the Spartans, placing 211 and 223, respectively.

With the season coming to the end with an underwhelming end, SWCC knows it’s a challenge to race against top competition in a large field.

“It’s not exactly where we wanted to finish, we’d obviously like to be a little higher than where we were,” said head coach Trey Bruton. “We had trouble with some of our guys going down in the beginning of race it made it kind of a challenge. Obviously would have liked to see us react a little better to that, but it’s hard and it’s not easy.”

The finish for the men gives Southwestern plenty to build off of and grow from going into the spring season with some of the runners gearing up for track and field and with some sophomores moving on to the next opportunity.

“It’s one of those things where they can learn from (it) and get better for the future and if they continue on to run somewhere else it’ll help them with the experience for the future. We still ran hard and ran well, we beat 11 teams (in the men’s race), ... we can’t fault them for that,” said Bruton.

The next event scheduled for both the Spartan men and women is the NJCAA half marathon championships in El Paso, Texas. The event is scheduled for Nov. 23 with no official start time.