COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The University of New Mexico women’s cross country team was selected as the favorite to win its respective 2015 Mountain West cross country title, as voted by the league’s coaches in the women’s pre-championship coaches’ poll.
The Lobo men were tabbed fourth in the men’s version of the poll.
The polls, released Thursday, have the nation’s top-ranked women’s team extending its streak of seven straight MW cross country championships at Friday’s Mountain West Championships at the Montrêux Golf Club in Reno, Nev.
Together, the New Mexico men and women have swept the titles six years in a row, as the men have won six straight titles.
In the women’s poll, No. 1 New Mexico tallied 10 first-place votes for a total of 100 points to earn the top spot. No. 9 Boise State collected the other first-place vote (coaches cannot vote for their own teams) and 91 points to claim second place.
Air Force earned 77 points for third, followed by Colorado State in fourth with 74 points and Wyoming in fifth with 59 points. Utah State (56 points), Nevada (48), San José State (35), Fresno State (26), UNLV (22) and San Diego State (17) placed sixth through 11th, respectively.
On the men’s side, No. 26 Air Force earned the top spot with four first-place votes and 45 total points, just edging No. 16 Boise State’s three first-place votes and 44 points. No. 30 Colorado State was third with 38 points, while the Lobo men claimed the final first-place vote and 32 points.
San José State, Utah State and Wyoming all collected 19 points to tie for fifth, with Fresno State (eight points) rounding out the men’s poll.
The 2015 Mountain West Cross Country Championships will be hosted by the University of Nevada at Montrêux Golf Club in Reno, Nevada on Friday, Oct. 30. The men’s 8-kilometer race begins at 11 a.m. MT, followed by the women’s 6-kilometer race at 11:45 a.m. MT. Both races can be viewed live on the Mountain West Network.