2024 T-Bird (WXC) Season Preview
The New Mexico Junior College women's cross country team begins the 2024 season Aug. 23 in Snyder, Texas at the Western Texas College Open.
The women will race at 9:30 a.m. CDT following the men's race.
The Thunderbirds are fresh off a second consecutive national runner-up and a third-place finish in the Half Marathon Championship in Huntsville, Ala.
The T-Birds return five athletes, Jayne Elvin, Jody Ann Mitchell, Daphne Kausz, Tyfane Martins, and Francesca Alvarado, from the 2023 national runner-up cross country team and will have to replace half marathon national champion Damaris Chewon.
"We've had to replace quite a few out of last year's national runner up team," NMJC women's cross country head coach Jeff Becker said. "I think we've got a good incoming group, one of the best that we've had in my time. We have three young ladies from Tunisia that I think are going to be at the top for us."
The newcomers have a chance to break into the lineup right away with Amal Kachouri leading the way for the T-Birds in historic fashion as a freshman.
"Amal is looking very good in training. She ran really well in our time trial and won it for the ladies," Becker said. "She made it look really easy with her time and it ranked her as one of the best ever since we started doing trials. We haven't had a lot of those key workouts that we've normally had by this time of the year so that's very impressive."
"I look for Amal to really be one of the strong ones on our team but Ines Mrabet, another young lady from Tunisia, was right behind her and finished second in the time trial. So I look for them to be big contributors this year. We also have a young lady by the name of Lisel Ndlovu from Zimbabwe, it's going to take her a little bit of time to get in shape, but I think she's going to help us by the end of the year as well."
The Thunderbirds will have back one of their top runners in Jayne Elvin. The Englishwoman was an All-American as a freshman in cross country finishing in 13th place in 2023.
"Jayne is a returning cross country All-American. She might be our number four runner this year. So we'll see, but she may also be our number one. You never know with Jayne. She's got a lot of ability and she likes to win so I wouldn't count her out at all. Jayne's proven that last year she was a top notch performer at the NJCAA level in cross country."
The Thunderbirds also return Jody Ann Mitchell from last year's squad. Mitchell was a late bloomer in 2023 when it came to cross country, but her ability began to show at the end of the season when she worked her way into the top-6 of the lineup.
"With Jody Ann I don't think she's going to be one of our top runners right off the bat, but by the time we get to regionals and nationals I think she'll be in our top seven once again."
The depth of this year's team is what sets NMJC apart compared to last year's squad. If you couple that with the fact that the Thunderbirds carry 10 athletes compared to seven with other schools it in turn gives the T-Birds a distinct advantage over their opponents.
"Our ultimate goal is to be in the top-5 every year. I think this group could do that and more," Becker said. "I've kind of seen a little bit of what recruits different schools have and stuff like that. In visiting with other coaches, typically women are still in an area where a lot of people say 'hey, I just, I don't have a lot of people there'. We're fortunate enough this year, we've got 10 ladies on our roster that could be in our top seven at different times throughout the year."
The Western Texas College Open is a warm-up for the start of the 2024 cross country season. The rugged 5k course should give Coach Becker an idea of what type of team he has this year.
"I want to see how they're going to compete. Who's going to go out there and be tough and run strong," Becker said. "When I met with them we talked that for some of these new international students it's a little bit different running cross country in college whereas in other countries sometimes they don't always score it the same way. This Western Texas College meet has always been good for that. It's been very low key and we've been able to go there and learn a lot and that's why we want to continue to have this as a learning meet for us."
The Thunderbird women's cross country season starts at 9:30 a.m. CDT in Snyder, Texas at the Western Texas Open Friday, Aug 23.