COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Mountain West has named University of New Mexico cross country runner Alice Wright as the MW Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week for meets contested last week.
Wright, a redshirt junior from Worcester, England, placed second overall and guided the now 11th-ranked Lobo women’s team to a fourth-place finish at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational last Friday in Notre Dame, Indiana.
In her first race of the season, Wright finished with a time of 16 minutes, 16 seconds over the five-kilometer course at the Burke Golf Course, her fastest time over a 5K cross country course in her collegiate career.
She finished just 4.3 seconds behind individual champion Anna Rohrer of Notre Dame (16:11.7), who was running on her home course. Wright led the race through one mile and rallied from a third-place standing at four kilometers to place second overall at the line
It’s the third straight year Wright, a two-time cross country All-American, improved on her finish at Notre Dame. She placed fifth last year (16:29.5) and eighth in 2014 (16:23.2).
Wright is the only athlete along with teammate Calli Thackery to place top 10 at the last three runnings of the Notre Dame Invitational.
This honor is Wright’s first such accolade in cross country, and it’s the team’s first since Courtney Frerichs claimed the award after finishing runner up at the Notre Dame Invitational last year.
The Lobos will return to action next weekend when they travel to the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, on Oct. 14.