Even after winning national championship last season, the Lobos’ expectations for their men’s and women’s teams are still the same.
Finish top-10 at the NCAA Championships.
And with squads assembled this year, more top-10 finishes might just be in store.
The University of New Mexico cross country program officially opens the 2016 next week with high expectations and a number of new faces as it looks to build on the program’s success and last year’s NCAA team title for the women.
The Lobo women, ranked No. 1 in the USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll for the 10th-straight poll, return many tremendous runners and have again reloaded, while the youthful UNM men are primed to regain their place among the nation’s best.
New Mexico’s first shot on the road toward the NCAAs is next week, as the Lobos will compete at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind.
“The goals have never changed: To be top 10,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “That was the expectation in 2007 when I was hired and that’s never changed.”
Last year was the culmination of those goals, as the New Mexico women stormed to one of the most dominant performances ever witnessed in NCAA history.
The Lobos recorded the lowest team score at the NCAA Championships since 1982 behind five All-Americans — the most by one team at a single championship since 2009.
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| Calli Thackery |
It was New Mexico’s sixth-straight top-five finish at the NCAAs, showing how much the Lobo women have bought into Franklin’s goals.
The UNM men have also put forth a strong effort toward reaching the team’s goal, making the national championships six of the last seven years. 2015 was the first season since 2009 that the Lobo men didn’t qualify, but this year’s new-look roster has designs on rekindling their success.
For the women, they won’t need to do much different with multiple returning All-Americans and a number of promising talents waiting to run.
Two of those All-Americans, Alice Wright and Calli Thackery, are back and healthy, and look to lead UNM back to the NCAAs.
Sophie Connor, an All-American on the track last season, has improved considerably on the grass over the summer, and looks to be a strong candidate for a spot in the Lobos’ pack.
“On the women’s side, we are returning a good core group of women from last year,” Franklin said. “Some of them didn’t run the national championship, but some of them could have. That group is another very good group.”
Along with sophomore Natasha Bernal and newcomers Kathryn Fluehr, Kyoko Koyama, Kieran Casey and Alex Buck, the Lobos have runners that can score at premier meets.
The newcomers will probably hold the key for the women. Because 2015 All-American Rhona Auckland is likely done with the year with an injury and transfers Elizabeth Weiler (injury) and Ednah Kurgat (not released after transferring from Liberty) probably won’t run this season, finding scorers to complement the veterans will be paramount.
But it’s hardly unprecedented at New Mexico. In the past, Sammy Silva, Courtney Frerichs and Molly Renfer all ran to All-American status after arriving at UNM.
“Year in and year out, we’ve had people come in that have not had much experience at New Mexico that have done well,” Franklin said. “So running on the national stage is not that much of a concern because they’re training with some of the best young women not only in the country, but in the world.”
Additionally, the women’s place as one of the nation’s best team is undisputed, as evidenced by the respect they’ve garnered nationally. Despite not yet running their “A” squad, the nation’s coaches have kept the UNM women ranked No. 1 all season.
On the men’s side, this season’s forecast is slightly cloudy. It’s not because there’s a lack of talent — that’s hardly the case — it’s just because there are so many new faces.
Although Graham Thomas and Jesus Mendoza return for New Mexico, the men’s squad will need to find depth. There’s plenty of capable runners on the team who can provide it, and the task for Franklin and his staff is forming these young runners into a formidable cross country team.
“The men are very young and are very talented on the track, but that has to translate to NCAA cross country,” Franklin said.
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| Jesus Mendoza |
Freshmen Emil Danielson, Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen, Alexander Palm, Gavin Sleeter and Jacob Simonsen are all exceptionally gifted runners, but with such youth, the goal is to work together to make progress.
In concert with returners Zac Castillo, Jared Garcia, Adam Monroe and Taylor Potter, the Lobos have the stock to make a run at the postseason.
“We think this team can make the national championship,” Franklin said. ‘We’re relying on people who have made great progress, but it needs to translate to a race. But there’s a good group of guys there that can get things done.”
After running at Notre Dame and then the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on October 14, the New Mexico will then have to contend with the Mountain West, one of the best cross country conference in the NCAA, Franklin said.
The sixth-ranked Boise State women are the Lobos biggest challengers on the women’s side, while men’s championship is shaping up to be a battle between No. 14 Boise State and No. 24 Colorado State with New Mexico and Air Force also in the running.
The UNM women were picked to win their ninth-straight MW crown in the conference’s preseason order of finish, and the men were predicted to finish fourth. The MW Championships are October 28 in Boise, Idaho.
The Lobos will then turn their attention to the NCAAs, with the NCAA Mountain Region Championships November 11 in Logan, Utah, and the NCAA Championships November 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.