New Mexico Highlands Athletics

New Mexico Highlands University cross-county standout Nicaise Kazingo raced his way to a spot in the NCAA National Championship meet with a strong seventh place finish at the Central Region Championships in Wayne, Neb. on Saturday morning. Kazingo, who has been All-RMAC in each of his first two seasons at Highlands, will make his first trip to the national meet when he races at the NCAA Division II Championships, to be held November 21st in Evansville, Indiana.

The NMHU cross country teams each placed 7th at the 2009 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships Saturday in Denver. The meet was held at Washington Park in Denver and hosted by Metro State. With five nationally ranked men’s teams and four nationally ranked women’s teams, the RMAC is the toughest cross country conference in the nation, according to HU head coach Bob DeVries. “We hoped to place a bit higher,” noted DeVries, “but this conference is so strong, if you don’t race at your best teams are going to move ahead of you.”