MADISON, Wis. — Halfway through the season, a mantra for Lobo cross country has been to run as a team. And, after this weekend, there’s little doubt that these harriers can run in packs.
The University of New Mexico cross country teams exemplified the pack mentality at the exceptionally competitive Wisconsin adidas Invitational Friday morning, as the women combined for a sixth-place team finish and the men posted a 12th-place team finish.
Against a field that included 22 ranked women’s team and 19 ranked men’s teams, the No. 11 women and No. 16 men ran as tightly bunched groups, picking up key wins in their efforts to continue building their credentials for the NCAA Championships in November.
“It went really well,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “We’ve had our challenges the past ten days since Notre Dame. So to go into this and get sixth and 12th is very, very positive.”
After making solid strides toward building NCAA resumes two weeks ago at the Notre Dame Invitational, the Lobos once again made progress at Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison.
Despite illness on the women’s side and some sore runners on the men’s side, New Mexico accomplished a handful of tasks they had for the postseason.
In the process, both squads turned in superb team efforts with some very wolf-like pack running.
The women placed all five scorers in the top 75 and registered a team spread of just 31 seconds. It’s the smallest spread between all five scorers at any meet for the women since the Mountain West Championships in 2009.
The men also posted a solid pack effort, with every scorer in the top 100 and a spread of just 25 seconds.
“It’s was just very, very positive,” Franklin said of the pack running. “The whole group found each other wearing turquoise. It’s the power of turquoise.”
Wearing their turquoise vests, which are saved for important meets and the national championships, the Lobos managed to add to their growing postseason resumes.
The women claimed victories over 16 other ranked teams, including three over teams ranked above them (No. 6 Stanford, No. 9 Florida State and No. 10 Virginia).
The men, by dint of their 12th-place finish, beat claimed eight wins, including one over 12th-ranked BYU.
“I feel very comfortable with our likelihood of making the NCAA Championships,” Franklin said. “We’ve done all we need to do to get to the NCAA Championship.”
On the women’s side, Charlotte Arter continued to lead the team, crossing the line first for New Mexico with a 27th-place time of 20 minutes, 28 seconds.
After winning the Notre Dame Invitational, Arter paced the Lobos again for her second ever team-leading run.
“I think, considering my week’s training, it was a solid effort,” Arter said.
Right behind was the dynamic duo of Alice Wright and Calli Thackery, who have consistently been running together this year. Wright covered the six-kilometer course in 39th place with a time of 20:37, while Thackery was 50th in 20:45.
Additionally, Tamara Armoush and Nicola Hood backed up their scoring efforts two weeks ago with another pair of scoring runs, as Armoush was 71st (time of 20:55) and Hood was 74th (20:59).
Also placing for the Lobos in the championship race were Emily Reese (76th, 21:01) and Emily Hosker-Thornhill (145th, 21:38).
As a team, the women notched a team score of 261 points.
“I think people found each other in the race and worked with each other,” Arter said.
In the ‘B’ race, five Lobos ran, with Nicole Roberts (second, 21:03) leading Heleene Tambet (fifth, 21:08), Amber Zimmerman (seventh, 21:12), Anna Burton (11th, 21:19) and Chloe Anderson (35th, 21:56).
For the men, all seven runners put forth valiant efforts after placing third as a team at Notre Dame, with Adam Bitchell emerging as the go-to athlete once again.
Bitchell placed 31st over the eight-kilometer course with a time of 24:12, leading the Lobos for the second time this year and in his career.
However, the men were buoyed by multiple scorers in the top 100 as the race ended up with a tightly-grouped spread in the top 100.
Behind Bitchell was Dan Studley, who claimed 40th in 24:16. Following was Jake Shelley in 76th place (24:29), Ross Matheson in 94th place (24:36) and Elmar Engholm in 98th place (24:37).
Rounding out the Lobos’ runners were Alex Cornwell and Graham Thomas as they placed 112th (24:45) and 180th (25:14), respectively.
As a team, the men totaled a team score of 338 points.
The Lobos get a week off before they return to action at the Mountain West Championships. The women have won six conference titles in a row, while the men have won five straight.
“Now our goal is to make sure we can challenge for a conference title,” Franklin said.
The Mountain West Championships are Oct. 31 at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif.