Kurgat Wins, Paces UNM Women to Victory at Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. — Having sat out last year, some people in the cross-country world forgot about University of New Mexico cross country sophomore Ednah Kurgat.
But, after Friday’s performance, Kurgat made herself known again.
Kurgat emphatically won the women’s race at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Presented by Under Armour and the third-ranked Lobo women may have found a fifth runner to complement their stellar top four en route to claiming the team title on Friday.
The UNM men added a 26th-place finish of their own as New Mexico competed in its final meet before the championship season.
With November’s NCAA Championships on the horizon, the Lobos headed to Madison aiming to pick up some wins to bolster their credentials for potential qualification to the championships.
As 31 teams make the NCAA Championships — two automatic bids from nine regions plus 13 at-large teams — strong performances in October loom large for the national meet.
But the story on Friday was almost undoubtedly was Kurgat, who dominated a star-studded field for her second-straight individual win and the team’s first win this season.
The sophomore from Eldoret, Kenya, by way of Liberty University traversed the six-kilometer course at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in 19 minutes, 23.2 seconds, winning by over 16 seconds.
“My main goal wasn’t to win, but to make my team shine,” Kurgat said. “But I tried to do the best possible I could.”
The leader from virtually the start, Kurgat led at every intermediate split before running away from the competition over the final half of the race. Utah’s Grayson Murphy finished second in 19:39.4.
The first titlist for UNM at this meet, Kurgat’s time was the best-ever by a female Lobo runner at the meet and just missed the course record of 19:19.5 set by Allie Ostrander in 2015.
Kurgat is also the first Lobo to win back-to-back meet since teammate Alice Wright won the Mountain West and NCAA Mountain Region championships last fall.
Wright was also racing on Friday, registering a fourth-place time of 19:45.1. The runner up at this meet last fall, Wright nonetheless shed over 15 seconds off her time from 2016.
It’s Wright’s third-straight top-10 finish at the meet to go along with a seventh-place result in 2015, the last time New Mexico won the Wisconsin Invitational.
Charlotte Prouse chipped in a superb seventh-place clocking of 19:54.3, giving her back-to-back top-10 finishes at the meet after running to fifth last season for Washington. Freshman Weini Kelati also scored, zooming to 15th and the top finish among freshman in 20:07.5.
However, another key storyline for the Lobos heading into the meet was finding a No. 5 runner.
Alondra Negrón Texidor might have stepped into the role, rallying from 127th place at two kilometers and 98th at 4K before placing 60th at the line with a time of 20:53.6.
Kieran Casey, the Lobos No. 5 two weeks ago at Notre Dame, came close to repeating that with a 69th-place time of 20:56.5, while Alex Buck rounded out the Lobos’ runners with a 127th-place time of 21:30.1.
As a team, the Lobos scored 87 points, the best finish since they won with a meet-record score of 32 points in 2015. No. 6 San Francisco placed second with 126 points, with No. 7 North Carolina State taking third with 169 points.
In the women’s open “B” race, Sophie Eckel placed fourth in 21:12.7, with Sarah Laverty (31st place, time of 21:56.4) and Kendall Kelly (44th, 22:14.2) also running.
On the men’s side, Alexander Palm provided the Lobos with a strong finish, covering the men’s eight-kilometer course in 24:02.7 to place 19th. It was Palm’s second-straight meet leading the New Mexico men.
Palm’s finish was also the best at this meet by a UNM man since 2013 when Luke Caldwell placed seventh.
However, the New Mexico men finished with a wide pack spread, as the team’s next finisher, Jonny Glen, came in at 131st.
Glen logged a time of 24:57.1, with Josh Kerr close behind in 24:57.2 for 132nd place. Linton Taylor (172nd, 25:13.8) and Jacob Simonsen (197th, 25:32.7) also scored for New Mexico.
Overall, the Lobos finished in 26th place with 651 points, just 19 points out of 25th.
Also running for the UNM men were Tyler Valdez (219th, 26:08.6) and Taylor Potter (234th, 27:35.5).
The Lobos return to action in two weeks as they host the 2017 MW Cross Country Championships at home at the UNM North Golf Course on Friday, October 27.
Fans can follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Twitter and Instagram to keep track of the Lobos!