NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has named University of New Mexico women’s cross country athlete Alice Wright as the NCAA Division I Mountain Region Women’s Athlete of the Year.
Wright, a redshirt freshman from Worchester, England, won in the individual race at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships this past Friday, completing the six-kilometer course at the UNM North Golf Course in Albuquerque in 20 minutes, 51.1 seconds. She is the second Lobos to win a women’s region race after Sammy Silva last year and Lisa Mitchell in 1981.
The award, as voted on by the Division I coaches, is the second received by any Lobo athlete in program history, after Silva‘s recognition last year. New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin has been named Mountain Region Men’s Coach of the Year once (2010) and twice as the Mountain Region Women’s Coach of the Year (2010-11).
Wright also earned All-Region honors for her performance, along with teammates Charlotte Arter, Calli Thackery, Anna Burton and Nicola Hood. Ross Matheson earned All-Region honors on the men’s side.
The NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be contested November 22 in Terre Haute, Ind., hosted by Indiana State on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.