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NCAA Mountain Region ChampionshipsAlthough the consequences of the regional meet perhaps aren’t as dire as he suggests, Lobo head coach Joe Franklin knows the importance of a good race at this meet.
“If you run well, you get a chance to run again in eight days,” Franklin said. “If you happen to be off a little bit, then you start training for indoor track.”
The University of New Mexico cross country program is aiming to run again this season and secure its spot at the NCAA Championships as it heads to Logan, Utah, for the NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Friday in Logan, Utah.
After winning its record ninth-straight Mountain West title two weeks ago, the sixth-ranked Lobo women are eyeing a ninth consecutive berth at the national championships, while the Lobo men are also looking to make a bid at the Steve & Dona Reeder Cross Country Course.
The NCAA Championships are November 19 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana.
“We just really need to work as a team,” New Mexico redshirt sophomore Kendall Kelly said. “Our goal is to come top two so we can advance to nationals. We’re just going to give it our all and see what we can do.”
If the Lobos can give it their all, they’ll make the NCAA Championships once again. The Lobo women have made eight straight national championships, while the UNM men had qualified six of the last seven years.
But the expectations for both the men and the women are slightly different.
“They’re two different teams a little bit,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “The men have to hit on all cylinders. The women need to make sure they get through on a comfortable pace.”
For the Lobo women, the 2015 NCAA champions, the goal is just to make it through the meet healthy. Although a winning performance is certainly an objective, it’s not imperative in the women’s bid to repeat as national champs.
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The top two teams at the nine regional meets automatically advance to the NCAA Championships. After that, the NCAA will chose at-large teams based their wins over other teams and their ‘A’ squads to fill out the 31-team roster.
“This race is the trial to make it to the final,” Franklin said. “Whether you win this race or not is, at some level, irrelevant. Last year, we were second [at regionals] to Colorado by a point and then went to the national championships and got them by quite a few.”
Like last year, it’s shaping up to be a battle between No. 1 Colorado and the No. 7 Lobos, with No. 18 BYU and No. 20 Utah also in the mix.
On the men’s side, competing in an exceptionally deep region, the expectation is to show well and maybe pick off some NCAA hopefuls in an attempt to perhaps collect one of the at-large bids.
The top three teams in the nation in the men’s race — No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 2 Colorado and No. 3 BYU — are gunning for a top-two finish this week, along with No. 15 UTEP, No. 19 Colorado State and No. 24 Southern Utah.
“The Mountain Region is very deep, so you’re going to get a lot of teams to the national championships,” Franklin said. “And if you beat one of them, then you’re going to go.”
But, regardless of strategy, both squads have the athletes that can power a team to Terre Haute.
For the women, the Lobos will continue to rely on Alice Wright and Calli Thackery for scoring runs after they finished 1-2 to fuel the women’s team title at the MW Championships.
Although both will likely push for an individual win Friday — Wright won the Mountain Region when UNM hosted it in 2014 — both know that their season’s training and goals are geared toward the NCAAs.
“This race is very important,” Franklin said, “but you need to just do what you need to do to get to the next level without expending too much energy.”
The Lobos will also look to Sophie Connor and Natasha Bernal for scoring performance after both scored three times this season. UNM’s depth will be the key, however, with Kelly, Kathryn Fluehr, Alex Buck and Kieran Casey running.
“I’m going to try to do my best in this race,” Kelly said. “Everybody is running their individual races, but we’re still going to work as a team and do our best.”
On the men’s side, seniors Graham Thomas and Jesus Mendoza are primed to post some strong runs. That duo has been the men’s version of Wright & Thackery, lending the Lobo lads some solid performance at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and the MW Championships.
And while Thomas has a realistic shot to make the national championships, Franklin said, the improving men’s team as a whole can also contend.
“I think the team qualifies if they hit it and make sure they’re in position,” Franklin said. “Our goal is to have a chance with 2,000 meters left in the race.”
Adam Cotton, Alexander Palm and Zac Castillo all scored at the MW Championships, but Jacob Simonsen, Emil Danielsson and Jared Garcia have also contributed during the season.
The women will compete at 11 a.m. MT, followed by the men at 12 p.m. MT. Check back Friday evening on GoLobos.com for meet results and a New Mexico recap.