INDIANAPOLIS — The Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee announced the University of New Mexico’s men’s cross country team has secured an at-large bid into the 2014 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships to be held in Terre Haute, Ind., next Saturday.
The men will join the ninth-ranked women’s cross country team at the national championships for the sixth straight year. The women received an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships by finishing second at the Mountain Region Championships Friday in Albuquerque.
The 13th-ranked Lobo men, led by eighth-year head coach Joe Franklin, secured an at-large bid for the sixth year in a row after finishing seventh in the 10-kilometer race at the regional meet at the UNM North Golf Course.
New Mexico is just one of three schools, along with Colorado and Stanford, to send both their men’s and women’s teams to the NCAA Championships each of the last six years from 2009 to 2014.
The women have qualified to the NCAA Championships seven years in the row, dating back to 2008.
For the women, this is their 11th overall appearance at the national championships, counting two trips to the AIWA championships. The Lobos finished 10th each of the last two years, ninth in 2011, fifth in 2010, 13th in 2009 and 18th in 2008 in their string of NCAA appearances under Franklin.
The men’s team is making it 10th championship appearance overall and sixth in a row. The men finished 11th last year, 21st in 2012, 31st in 2011, 16th in 2010 and posted a program-best tie for eighth in 2009.
31 teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the nine regions, for a total of 18 teams. 13 additional teams were selected at large based off of those teams regular-season wins over other institution’s squads. Additional individuals from non-qualifying teams earn bids to the national championships, as well.
Indiana State will host the Championships on Saturday, Nov. 22, at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.. The men’s 10-kilometer race will begin at 10 a.m. MT, followed by the women’s six-kilometer race at 11:15 a.m. MT.