Villagomez Breaks Personal Best at NAIA National Championships

Cedar Rapids, IA Judson University Cross Country Runner Juan Villagomez represented Judson in the NAIA National Championships on Friday. He finished with a total time of 26:52, which was a personal best by over 40 seconds. Juan's effort is even more impressive as the conditions were muddy, which caused poor footing for the runners. Juan started the first two laps of the race rather conservatively (10:52), prior to running the last 2.97 miles at an impressive 16:00 pace.

"To run that big a PR in conditions like that is amazing," said Judson University Distance Coach Cam Knudsen. "Juan is a tough dude and these kinds of conditions play to his strengths. A lot of the time in these big races a lot of runners go out hard and you can really gain a lot of ground in the second half of the race if you have the strength left from being patient. That's exactly what Juan did. It was a really impressive effort and he showed up at the right time. We definitely have a lot to build off of for the fall with him as an individual and him leading the way for the team."

Congratulations to Juan Villagomez for his outstanding effort at the NAIA National Championships!