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Gonzales Named Mountain West Conference Athlete Of The Week
No. 23 New Mexico Returns To Action On Oct. 30 At MWC Championships
Oct. 20, 2004 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - University of New Mexico senior Matt Gonzales was selected as the Mountain West Conference Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week, the league office announced this afternoon. Gonzales is the third Lobo to win the award this year, the highest number of honorees for New Mexico since it joined the MWC in 1999. The Santa Fe native is also the first two-time selection under head coach Matt Henry. In his first race since the season-opener (Sept. 11), Gonzales turned in the biggest victory of his cross country career on Oct. 16 at the 2004 NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. Gonzales, who missed the Lobos' last meet with an IT band injury in his knee, defeated 255 runners in the Blue race and edged Colorado's Brent Vaughn by less than a second at the finish line. He clocked a career-best 8K time of 23:47.2, eight seconds faster than his previous best, en route to his first cross county victory since winning the Arizona State Invitational on Oct. 5, 2001. Gonzales earned his first MWC Cross Country Athlete of the Week award for his effort at ASU. Gonzales' performance helped the UNM men finish 10th in the 37-team field, ahead of six of the 12 top-30 teams in the race. New Mexico, which was receiving just four votes in the national poll entering Saturday's meet, knocked off No. 22 William & Mary, No. 23 Miami (Ohio), No. 26 Georgia, No. 27 Montana, No. 28 Washington, and No. 29 Central Michigan. UNM finished with its second lowest pack spread of the year, with just 1:38 separating its first and fifth runners. Freshman Shadrack Biwott and senior Jacquelyne Gallegos swept the weekly honors earlier this year on Sept. 16. The UNM men, who moved up to No. 23 in the most recent national rankings, will return to action on Oct. 30 at the MWC Championships in San Diego.
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