Texas Graduate Cruz Gomez Readies For An Important Post-Collegiate Race At The Cross Champs

AUSTIN – Cruz Gomez has come to find that the life of a post-collegiate runner can sometimes require an adjustment period.

Take for instance a recent workout wherein the 24-year-old Gomez, fresh off a fartlek, reached the track at Yellow Jacket Stadium and saw nothing but empty lanes, save for a few grandmotherly types on the outside.

Gomez proceeded with his prescribed workout, a four-by-mile cut-down which saw the former University of Texas and Ole Miss standout shuttle from an initial mile of 4:40 down to 4:25 on his last set.

The only difference on this day was the absence of college teammates on his hip. There were no coaches, no trainers and no state-of-the-art locker rooms awaiting him.

Gomez was on his own. Well, kind of.

“You run pretty fast,” the walker said.

Photo Credit: Cory Mull

Solo training environments have only come to remind Gomez, who graduated with degrees in Applied Movement Science from Texas and with an Intercollegiate Athletic Administration certificate from Ole Miss, what he’s working toward as he aims to continue his track and field career at the professional level.

Right now, he’s an unsigned athlete, with no manager and no agent. But if Gomez can pile up fast times and prove success over the next year, maybe, he thinks, that can change.

“Right now, it’s just about getting a brand interested in me so that I can get a contract and continue this dream of mine, which is to compete at the highest stage,” said Gomez, who won an NCAA title in the distance medley relay and an indoor team championship with the Longhorns in 2022.

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There’s no better time than this week. With the country’s premier running specialty retail convention – The Running Event – arriving at the Austin Convention Center on Tuesday, Gomez is scheduled to line up at the fourth-annual Cross Champs, an 8,000 meter professional cross country race, on Thursday at Camp Mabry.

Professional coaches and athletes from On, Under Armour, Adidas and Nike will line the course.

“I want to prove to myself that I can mix it up with the best,” said Gomez, who owns an 8K best of 23:45.9 and a 10K PR of 29:13.0, “and maybe open up the eyes of the brands. I want them to ask, ‘Who’s that guy out there?’”

The race will also mark his return to cross country for the first time since his 66th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2023, when Gomez was a fifth-year graduate student with Ole Miss. That performance, his fourth at the NCAA Championships across his career, was his best overall.

Photo Credit: Ole Miss Athletics

The McAllen, Texas native says there’s no big race strategy, other than going out there, digging in and competing.

“Just grinding it out there with everyone else,” he said. “It’s about seeing who can hurt the most and who wants it the most.”

One helpful tip that Gomez did pick up over his tenure in college, however, was the importance of gaining early-race position.

“I used to think that I could start in the back and work my way up,” Gomez said. “But what I found is that when you start in the back, you stay in the back. So, I learned it was better to hurt a little more early on and to try to move from there.”

Gomez’s race on Thursday will usher the start of his post-collegiate plans. The 24-year-old has plans on traveling to Boston in December for the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener, which will be held at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center, historically known as the fastest indoor track in the world. More fast indoor races should follow in January.

Gomez, who has no official coach or sponsor, has spent recent weeks stacking the miles. While working part-time at the Loop Running Store, a high-end specialty retailer of running shoes and gear, he’s now 11 weeks into a training block and knows that work will ensure he’s ready to line up for races in November and December.

His work ethic, he says, was instilled in him during his time at Texas.

“Texas breeds excellence and they want to be the best of the best,” Gomez said. “Being there made me hungry and made me want to achieve that excellence, so I’ve dedicated myself and applied myself to the sport.”

Gomez knows he’s got an important four-year period in front of him as the Los Angeles Olympics approaches in 2028.

The son of Mexican immigrants – his mother is from San Luis and his father from Tampico – Gomez says that he will determine soon whether he wants to represent his parents’ native country or the U.S., where he was born.

Regardless of that decision, however, are the times Gomez will need to run. He owns a 1,500 meter personal best of 3:39.34 and a 5,000 meter record of 13:49.13.

If he were to represent Mexico, he says, he would have to meet the Olympic ‘A’ standards – the most recent 2024 standards were 3:33.50 and 13:05.00 – within the qualifying window.

Those goals will all come in time.

But in the meantime, Gomez knows that success will not come without the training, which may include more than a few of those heart-pounding workouts under the lights at the Yellow Jacket Stadium track.

“Just me, under the lights, getting it done,” he said.

What To Know Ahead Of The 2024 Cross Champs

The fourth annual Cross Champs will take place on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at Camp Mabry in Austin. The course will take runners through a loop over 8,000 meters. Professional athletes from the Hanson-Brooks Olympic Distance Project, Under Armour Sky Distance, Under Armour Baltimore Distance, Minnesota Distance Elite, Run Elite Program in Utah, Asics and the Tinman Elite will feature.

When: The women’s race will begin at 7:30 a.m. while the men will get underway at 8:05 a.m.

Where: Camp Mabry, 2200 West 35th Street, Austin TX 78703