The UTEP cross country teams joined in what has been a strong fall for Miner athletics, sweeping the men's and women's races as the 40th Lori Fitzgerald Invitational, which marked UTEP's first home meet since 2019.
Franklin alum Juan Leal led a 1-2-3 finish in the men's 8K (5 miles) on Saturday, Sept. 19, ahead of teammates Nathan Kapel and Paul Rotich, while Eastwood alum Salma Licon was third overall in the women's 5K (3.1 miles), one spot ahead of Hanks grad Ashlyn McMillan.
The men scored 17 points, just two off a perfect score in the four-team field, while the women won their three-team field with 35 points. El Paso Community College was second in the women's race with 38 points.
"I'm really proud of the way our men and women competed today," coach Francesca Green said. "It was a great competitive showing by the Miners, and to come away with wins on both sides while seeing so many of our student-athletes run personal bests is exciting.
"We wanted to take another step forward from our first meet, and I think we accomplished that today. (Distance coach Justin) Herbert is doing a great job preparing this group and continuing to raise the expectations for our cross country program. You can see the work they've been putting in and the confidence they're starting to build as a team."
The cross country team gets the coming week off before returning to competition Oct. 3 at Arkansas' Chili Pepper Festival.
Miners soccer remains unbeaten
The UTEP women's soccer team will become the first UTEP team to play a Mountain West game Thursday at UNLV. The team is unbeaten.
The Miners completed a 6-0-4 (four ties) non-conference slate with a come-from-behind draw at New Mexico State University, which moved them to 3-0-3 on the road this season. Down 1-0 at the half, UTEP got an equalizer from Zeta McDannels in the 52nd minute off an assist from Macey Williams.
UTEP concluded non-conference play as the only unbeaten in the 11-team Mountain West.
The Miners play at 7 p.m. MT Thursday at UNLV.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP cross country sweep fuels big fall as soccer enters MW unbeaten
