Wright Powers Lobo Women to NCAA Championships

Women’s Results | Men’s Results

LOGAN, Utah — After Friday, two things became clear: Alice Wright can’t be stopped and her Lobos are NCAA bound.

Behind Wright’s second individual title in as many meets, the sixth-ranked University of New Mexico women’s cross country team claimed runner-up honors at NCAA Mountain Region Championships Friday in Logan, Utah, securing a bid for next week’s NCAA Championships.

The Lobo women, who have qualified to the national championships for the ninth straight year, battled through illness to a key athlete en route to capturing one of the region’s two automatic berths to the NCAA Championships, which are next Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana.

“Unfortunately, Calli Thackery was fighting off an illness,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “We were a little nervous there because we had the illness and a lot of strange things happen in races. So to get through it and come through relatively unscathed is good.”

On the men’s side, New Mexico placed ninth as a team in the 17-team race, missing a potential at-large bid by just a handful of positions.

The top two teams at the nine regional meets automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, and the NCAA will subsequently chose at-large teams based on their wins over other teams to fill out the 31-team roster.

However, Wright paced the Lobo women at the Steve & Dona Reeder Cross Country Course, combining with her teammates to power UNM back to the NCAA Championships.

The New Mexico women extended their streak to nine straight NCAA appearances, the eighth-longest active streak in the nation.

“The women believe in each other and believe that they will get it done,” Franklin said. “It’s something that is part of the culture of the University of New Mexico cross country.”

Wright won the race in dominant fashion, covering the six-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 59.90 seconds. She finished over 16 second ahead of the second-place finisher, and claimed the Mountain Regional title for the second time in the last three year.

It’s also the third title for UNM in the last four years, with Sammy Silva winning in 2013.

“Alice ran exceptionally well,” Franklin said. “She looked very comfortable and controlled. It was a very positive race.”

After not racing at this meet last year in anticipation of the national championships, Wright reasserted herself as the region’s best female athlete and put herself firmly in contention for the individual title at the NCAAs next week.

Calli Thackery also posted a superb race despite falling ill Thursday, placing 11th with a time of 20:26.90. It’s her fourth top-15 finish of the year and gave the Lobos enough firepower to take second in the team standings.

Along with fellow scorers Natasha Bernal (27th place, 20:56.70), Sophie Connor (34th, 21:13.50) and Alex Buck (36th, 21:14.20), New Mexico tallied 109 points.

The Lobos’ total was just enough to edge third-place Air Force (111 points) in the low-score-wins format, guaranteeing UNM a spot in Terre Haute. No. 1 Colorado won the 20-team meet with 35 points.

Also running for the Lobos were Kendall Kelly (58th, 21:40.30) and Kieran Casey (82nd, 22:15.70) as the Lobos, by rule, only ran seven women at the meet.

For the men, the Lobos posted a relatively tight pack, as all five of their scorers finished within 40 seconds of each other in their 10-kilometer race.

And while the men won’t advance on, they did register a strong performance against arguably the toughest region in the nation.

“That was the best performance of the year,” Franklin said. “They ran well. We had a couple of people struggle, but as a whole, 1-4 had a really good gap. I think that was the best they’ve run all year.”

Senior Graham Thomas led the way with a 39th-place finish, crossing the line in 31:55.50. Jacob Simonsen was next to finish, clocking in at 31:59.50 for 42nd place.

Alexander Palm (45th, 32:05.20) was close behind, with senior Jesus Mendoza (50th, 32:15.80) and Zac Castillo (61st, 32:33.80) also scoring for the men.

Emil Danielsson (75th, 33:05.20) and senior Adam Cotton (87th, 33:45.00) rounded out the Lobos’ runners as UNM notched 237 points.

The nation’s top three teams, No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 2 Colorado and No. 3 BYU, held to form, finishing 1-2-3 on Friday. NAU tallied 60 points for the win, followed by CU (76) and BYU (79).

“It’s been, traditionally and historically, one of the deepest regions in the country on both the men’s and women’s side,” Franklin said. “It’s not an easy region to get through. You have three teams that can finish on the podium at the NCAA Championships.”

The NCAA Championships are next Saturday, November 19, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.