FRESNO, Calif. – As a pack, the Lobos ascended the Mountain West peak.
For the sixth straight year, the University of New Mexico men’s and women’s cross-country teams swept the team titles at the Mountain West Cross Country Championships Friday at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif.
Behind stellar team efforts on both sides – including all five scorers placing in the top 10 for both the men and women – the women claimed their seventh team championship in a row, while the men won their sixth straight team championship.
“It’s was an amazing day,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “The women performed well. They did a great job, competed hard, had a great spread one to five and came out with the victory. The men’s performance was one of the better I’ve seen from a University of New Mexico team. They competed hard and ran as a group.”
The Lobos had no problem extending their streak of conference-title sweeps, despite racing against the No. 23 Boise State women and the No. 25 Colorado State men.
The UNM women beat the Broncos 33-58, while the UNM men bested Air Force 26-73 in the low-score-wins format. Colorado State was third in the men’s race with 76 points.
New Mexico, by dint of its sweep, has the fourth-longest streak of conference-title sweeps in Division I history. It’s the second longest active streak behind Iona College, which has the longest-ever streak of 10 straight title sweeps.
The Lobos also benefited greatly from its team-running approach, which it had used successfully during the regular season.
Both team had all five scorers place in the top 10, marking just the third time in conference history that the men’s champion and women’s champion accomplished that feat at the conference meet (New Mexico in 2009 and BYU in 2005).
On the women’s side, the Lobos relied on team running to capture their seventh consecutive conference title. But UNM had a new face leading the pack.
Alice Wright, the Lobos’ No. 2 runner throughout the season, crossed the line first for New Mexico, placing fourth overall in 20 minutes, 21.20 seconds. The redshirt freshman, who didn’t compete at last year’s meet, was the top freshman by over 30 seconds and is the first freshman to lead UNM at the conference meet since Lacey Oeding did it in 2008.
Right behind Wright was fifth-place Calli Thackery and sixth-place Charlotte Arter. Thackery finished with a time of 20:26.70, while Arter completed the course in 20:42.60. For Arter, it’s her third straight top-six finish at the MW Championships to go along with second place in 2012 and fourth in 2013.
However, the Lobos weren’t done with their pack running, as Nicole Roberts and Amber Zimmerman both scored with top-10 times. Roberts was eighth in 20:48.50 and Zimmerman was 10th in 20:49.50.
Tamara Armoush (12th, 20:53.90), Nicola Hood (18th, 21:15.60), Emily Reese (20th, 21:21.40) and Sophie Connor (30th, 21:35.80) rounded out the New Mexico contingent.
As a team, the Lobos combined for a team score of 33 points, topping runner-up Boise State – who had the top two finishers in Emma Bates and Marisa Howard – and its total of 58 points.
Wyoming placed third with 79 points, followed by Colorado State (103 points), Air Force (141), Nevada (163), Utah State (180), Fresno State (225), UNLV (245), San Diego State (276) and San José State (295).
For the men’s, sans top runner Adam Bitchell, the Lobos won their sixth conference title in a row with tremendous team running.
Jake Shelley, Alex Cornwell, Ross Matheson, Matt Bergin and Dan Studley all ran cohesively, pacing New Mexico to the win with a team spread of just over eight seconds.
Shelley was the top Lobos finisher (his first-ever team-leading performance), placing third in 23:43.10, while Cornwell placed fifth less than a second behind at 23:44.00. Matheson and Bergin placed fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 23:47.90 and 23:48.70. Studley rounded out New Mexico’s scorers, coming in at eighth place with a time of 23:51.30.
The eight-second team spread among the runners is the smallest ever by a New Mexico squad at the conference championships.
Also placing for the Lobos were Elmar Engholm (13th place, 24:07.60), Todd Wakefield (19th, 24:21.20), Graham Thomas (29th, 24:36.20) and JP Cordova (48th, 25:13.80).
Overall, the Lobos ran away with the team title, easily dispatching second-place Air Force and third-place Colorado State. New Mexico tallied 26 team points, above Air Force (73 points), Colorado State (76) and fourth-place Boise State (79). Utah State (fifth, 152 point), Wyoming (sixth, 160), Fresno State (seventh, 189) and San José State (eighth, 197) rounded out the teams competing.
Franklin also emerged with some titles of his own, earning his seventh straight MW Women’s Coach of the Year and his fourth straight Men’s Coach of the Year honor. No coach has won as many Women’s Coach of the Year accolades as Franklin.
Now, the Lobos will have to a week off before hosting the NCAA Mountain Region Championships at the UNM North Golf Course on Nov. 14.