Badger XC captures team titles, Gomez claims gold at Greyhound Invite

It was a trio of firsts for the Amarillo College cross country team on Saturday at the Greyhound Invite in Portales, New Mexico.

The Badgers captured team titles in both the men and women's division for the first time in program history.

Returning NJCAA Division I All American Ariyah Gomez added another program first as the sophomore claimed a gold medal in the women's division.

"I knew we had a chance to be really good and today they went out there and proved it," Amarillo College head coach Sean Hargrove said. "Our split from our first to fifth runner was shorter than it was a couple weeks ago. They are all in great condition and have been working hard in practice."

Sophomore Gabe Enriquez led the Badger men's team in the 8K race with a third-place finish in a time of 27 minutes 36 seconds.

Five Amarillo College athletes finished in consecutive order after Enriquez. Jerin Perkins placed fourth, Hugo Briones took 5th, Isael Giron placed sixth, Colton Thurman was seventh, and Christian Rosales finished in 8th.

Xavier Soto took 11th and Armando Flores finished 12th.

The Badger men won the three-team race by a significant margin with 25 points. The host, Eastern New Mexico University, placed 2nd with 51 points and Wayland Baptist finished in third (58 points).

Gomez captured the cross country program's first individual gold medal in the women's 6K race in a time of 24 minutes 5 seconds. Eastern New Mexico University runner-up, Kaylyn De La Rosa, finished five seconds behind the AC champion.

Fellow Randall High graduate and sophomore Romie Rubio placed sixth out of 29 female participants by crossing the finish line in 26 minutes.

Freshman Rubie Trevino placed 10th (27:39), followed by sophomore Alexia Alvarez, who finished in 14th.

Elaina Arredondo placed 16th to round out the Badgers team title performance.

The Amarillo College women tallied 38 points, four ahead of runner-up Eastern New Mexico University.