Oct. 11, 2007
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UPCOMING
The University of New Mexico men’s and women’s cross country teams look to keep improving their NCAA Championship selection resumé and make a little noise on the national stage on Saturday when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind. for the biggest regular season meet of the year – the Indiana State Pre-Nationals Invitational. New Mexico will be part of a blockbuster field that includes 12 top-30 teams running in both the men’s and women’s Blue races at the LaVern Gibson Course, which is also the site of the 2007 NCAA Championship meet in November.
No. 2 Wisconsin headlines the field of the men’s Blue Race, which also includes Mountain West Conference rivals Air Force, BYU and Wyoming. On the women’s side, No. 1 Stanford is the marquee squad in the Blue Race, which includes the top ranked team in the MWC in No. 14 Colorado State.
PRE-NATIONALS INVITATIONAL INFO
Host: Indiana State University
Course: LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Family Sports Center – Home of the 2007 NCAA Championships
Schedule:
Men’s 8K Blue Race – 10 a.m.
Women’s 6K Blue Race – 11:20 a.m.
The Fields: 39 men’s and 38 women’s teams (Blue Races only)
*Total meet field featues 79 men’s and 76 women’s teams will be split into 2 men’s and 2 women’s races
Nationally Ranked Teams:
Men’s Blue Race (12) – No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Iona, No. 8 Alabama, No. 13 Portland, No. 15 Northern Arizona, No. 17 Louisville, No. 18 UCLA, No. 23 Iowa State, No. 24 Florida State, No. 27 Washington, No. 29 Virginia.
Women (12) – No. 1 Stanford, No. 4 Minnesota, No. 7 Rice, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 11 Florida State, No. 14 Colorado State, No. 15 Boston College, No. 21 Georgetown, No. 25 N.C. State, No. 26 Wisconsin, No. 27 UC-Santa Barbara, No. 30 Nebraska
THE UNM TRAVEL TEAM
WOMEN:
Jr. Michelle Corrigan (Transfer from Mississippi State…Lobos’ top runner in both meets this fall)
So. Vanessa Ortiz (`06 MWC Freshman of the Year…’05 N.M. 5A XC champion…career-best 3rd in `07 opener)
Sr. Kara Henry (Transfer from Butler…2nd team all-Horizon League in `05 & `06…ran in 2004 & `05 NCAA meets)
Jr. Carolyn Boosey (Transfer from St. Mary’s University in London…7th in her UNM debut on Sept. 8)
Sr. Sheyenne Lewis (Has scored 7 times in 12 career races…10th in season-opener on Sept. 8)
Sr. Riann Lucy (First XC season since 2004…scored in 11 of 12 races in `03-’04 seasons…all-MWC 800 runner)
Sr. Stasia Ploskonka (UNM 3K steeplechase record holder…11 career XC races…3x Academic All-MWC)
So. Polina Ermoshina (All-American Nordic skier for the Lobos…making her collegiate XC debut this weekend)
MEN:
Sr. Jeremy Johnson (6th in `07 debut at Oregon…owns fastest 8K time in the MWC…10K outdoor All-American in `07)
Jr. Mat Ashton (Transfer from St. Mary’s University in London…British University 10K champ in `06…20th at Oregon)
So. Brock Hagerman (Transfer from Notre Dame…top Fr. in Big East last fall…9th in Lobo debut on Sept. 8)
So. Brian Vallie (Scored twice in 4 career XC races…Lobos’ No. 3 at Oregon…MWC 800m runner-up outdoors)
Sr. Joseph Garcia (Scored 13 times in 15 career races…12th in `07 opener…MWC 10K runner-up outdoors)
So. Alex Willis (Has scored 4 times in 8 meets…3 races this fall…top-15 finishes in first 2 meets)
Jr. Lee Emanuel (Transfer from Sheffield (England) Hallam University…mid-distance specialist on the track…3 races in `07)
MEET INFORMATION/RESULTS
Complete information and results from the 2007 Pre-Nationals Invitational can be found on the official website of the host Indiana State Sycamores:
www.GoSycamores.com
RACE CONDITIONS
Saturday’s weather should be almost ideal for distance running. The forecast calls for sunny skies, a high of 67 degrees, 10 percent chance of rain and wind speeds no higher than 6 miles per hour. The 72 perecent humidity could be a factor, however.
FROM HEAD COACH Joe Franklin
“For the most part, we’re healthy, or at least much better than we were when we went to Oregon two weeks ago when we had several people struggling with illness, infections and those sort of things. Our workouts have been going great and everybody is progressing each week.”
“This is the Pre-Nationals and it is a very important meet, but for us the attitude has to be about having fun, staying relaxed and going out there with the feeling that we’ve got nothing to lose. If we do that, we can be dangerous on both the men’s and women’s sides. If we can get our men all clicking on the same day, we can definitely beat some people. I’d like to see our women close the gap between the No. 5 and No. 4 runners, but they’ve got a chance to be very good as well.”
“We’re definitely going out there with some specific teams we know we need to beat in order to improve our at-large chances for NCAA selection at the end of the year. It’s a totally objective methodology. If you’re not one of the top two teams in the region, it comes down to who you beat head-to-head during the regular season and this meet is a great place to do that. I think we learned a lot from the Oregon meet, which we hope will help us quite a bit on Saturday.”
FAMILIAR FACES
The women’s Blue Race on Saturday will be a reunion of sorts for several new Lobos. Head coach Joe Franklin, assistant coach Erin Howarth and senior Kara Henry will see Butler for the first time this fall after the trio left the Indiana school for New Mexico over the summer. Junior Michelle Corrigan, meanwhile, will run against her former Mississippi State teammates for the first time after two-years with the Southeastern Conference program.
LAST YEAR AT THE PRE-NATIONALS
Team leaders Jeremy Johnson and Timmie Murphy turned in solid performances once again to pace the New Mexico men’s and women’s teams at the elite Indiana State Pre-Nationals Meet at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Johnson finished 48th out of 246 runners to lead the UNM men to a 27th place finish (out of 36 teams), while Murphy was 44th in a field of 245, helping the women finish 30th (out of 36).
UNM was fifth among the Mountain Region teams in the men’s White Race, knocking off Mountain West Conference rival Colorado State (29th). CSU entered the meet ranked fifth in the region and was picked to finish third in the MWC preseason coaches poll, two spots higher than New Mexico. The Lobos were ranked 11th in the Oct. 10 Mountain Region rankings.
Earlier in the women’s Blue Race, Murphy and Leslie Luna both finished among the top-60 and less than a minute behind the winner, Wake Forest’s Michelle Sikes. Luna sliced nearly four seconds off her personal best, placing 57th with a time of 21:13.7.
BILL DELLINGER INVITATIONAL REWIND
Senior Jeremy Johnson finished sixth to lead the University of New Mexico men’s cross country team to a ninth place finish in a loaded 15-team field on Sept. 29 at Oregon’s Bill Dellinger Invitational. Johnson defeated five cross country All-Americans, covering the 8,000-meter course at the Springfield Country Club in 23:39 – just 19 seconds behind the winner, Matt Withrow of Wisconsin.
New Mexico junior transfer Mat Ashton turned in an outstanding performance as well, finishing 20th overall with a season-best time of 23:57 to help the Lobos knock off Mountain West Conference rival Colorado State (11th) and Mountain Region foe Utah State (13th). New Mexico (221 points) finished just 38 points behind No. 23 Cal Poly (8th – 183 points) and was three spots behind seventh-ranked UTEP (6th – 148 points).
No. 4 Oregon, led by former Lobo All-American Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott (2nd), knocked off top-ranked Wisconsin, 54-73, to win the team title.
Running at full-strength for the first time this fall, the UNM men also received a strong race from sophomore Brian Vallie. Vallie, a middle distance standout on the track, finished 69th (24:44) in a field of 138 runners. Sophomore transfer Brock Hagerman and senior Joseph Garcia placed 73rd (24:47) and 76th (24:51), respectively, to cap the Lobo scoring.
Earlier in the day, the New Mexico women finished 10th (301 points) in a powerful 15-team field, led by junior transfer Michelle Corrigan, who was 26th overall with a time of 21:05 on the 6,000-meter course. Corrigan, who spent the past two seasons at Mississippi State, helped UNM down three Mountain Region rivals in Montana (12th – 324 points), Utah State (14th – 360 points) and UTEP (15th – 403 points).
The 24th-ranked Ducks, led by race winner Nicole Blood (20:04), shocked the field with a 65-90 victory over No. 4 Arkansas. No. 18 Colorado State (4th – 95 points) and No. 23 BYU (5th – 104 points), meanwhile, gave the MWC two teams in the top five.
The UNM women had just 1:11 separating their five scoring runners as sophomore Vanessa Ortiz placed 57th (21:32), senior transfer Kara Henry was 69th (21:40), junior transfer Carolyn Boosey was 78th (21:45) and senior Leslie Luna was 108th (22:16) in a field of 141 runners. Luna, a two-time all-conference and all-region runner, made her season debut after missing a significant portion of summer training with a foot injury.
New Mexico returns to competition next Saturday when the men and women travel to Tempe, Ariz. for the Arizona State Invitational.
JOHNSON PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
On June 7, Jeremy Johnson capped his remarkable senior track campaign with a seventh place finish in the NCAA 10,000-meter race to earn a spot on the All-America team. Nearly four months later, the Albuquerque Manzano product donned the Cherry and Silver uniform once again on Sept. 29 at Oregon and wasted no time getting back to his All-America form.
Johnson finished sixth in his season debut to lead the Lobo men’s team to a ninth-place finish in a loaded 15-team field at Oregon’s Bill Dellinger Invitational. He defeated five cross country All-Americans and broke his own school record for an 8K course, completing the circuit at the Springfield Country Club in 23:39 – the best in the Mountain West Conference this fall.
Johnson’s performance earned him Mountain West Conference Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors. It was the second career Athlete of the Week award for Johnson, who also won last year on Sept. 12. UNM has had at least one men’s winner every year since 2004.
NEW LOOK LOBOS
In addition to the new coaching staff of head coach Joe Franklin and assistant coach Erin Howarth, the UNM roster has quite a few new faces and runners from new places.
The men’s and women’s teams both feature six first-year Lobos on the roster. Six of those newcomers are transfers that decided to join Franklin in Albuquerque when he took the UNM job.
UNM added a trio of veteran runners from England – an area Franklin recruited heavily while the head coach at Butler – in juniors Carolyn Boosey, Mat Ashton and Lee Emanuel. Boosey (2,000m steeplechase) and Ashton (10,000m) are former British University champions, while Emanuel was a standount middle distance runner.
New Mexico also has three transfers from the Midwest in senior Kara Henry (Elmhurst, Ill.), junior Michelle Corrigan (Green Bay, Wisc.) and sophomore Brock Hagerman (Markleville, Ind.). Henry was a two-time NCAA regional qualifier in the steeplechase at Butler, while Corrigan was set the school record and was an SEC finalist in the 10,000 at Mississippi State. Hagerman, meanwhile, was the top freshman in the Big East Conference and an all-region honoree last fall, helping the nationally-ranked Notre Dame men advance to the NCAA Championship meet.