What Loubna Benhadja loves most about running for UTEP is the team around her.
Growing up in Algeria, the list of good female 400-meter hurdlers had one name on it — hers. She believes she's the first Algerian woman to earn an NCAA athletic scholarship, she'll be the only one this weekend at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Being a trailblazer can be lonely. Benhadja crossed an ocean to fix that.
"I like it here because I train with a group," said Benhadja, a freshman. "Back home in Algeria I didn't have a group to practice with.