UNM Cross Country Heads to Elite Wisconsin Invite

The Lobos passed their first test two weeks at Notre Dame. But now, as the stakes get higher and the competition gets fiercer, they’ll be asked to do it again.

The University of New Mexico cross country team is looking to improve its credentials for the national championships as it heads to the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Presented by Under Armour this Friday in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Lobos, with the nation’s third-ranked women’s team and an improving men’s squad, have designs on capturing some wins against other teams in pursuit of perfecting their résumés for the NCAA Championships in November.

“We’re excited for the second race of the year,” UNM head coach Joe Franklin said. “We’re looking to close some gaps on not only the women’s side but the men’s side.”

After the women took second and the men placed 10th at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational two weeks ago, the Lobos started to compile their credentials for the national championships.

31 teams make the NCAA Championships, with two automatic bids from nine regions plus 13 at-large teams.

But, despite strong performances in Indiana, there’s still room for improvement — both for the team and its postseason prospects — as New Mexico faces its final meet before the championship season starts with the Mountain West Championships in late October.

This week’s exceptionally competitive meet at Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course gives Franklin and the Lobos quite the chance to claim some improvement

Although this meet is entering its just its ninth year, Wisconsin is easily one of the top invitationals outside of the NCAA Championships.

20 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams ranked in the USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll will be making their case for the NCAAs Friday.

Along with the No. 3 Lobo women, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 San Francisco, No. 7 NC State, No. 8 Providence will be racing in the women’s six-kilometer races.

In the men’s eight-kilometer race, two-thirds of the nation’s ranked teams will be in action, including No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 3 Syracuse, No. 4 Stanford, No. 6 Southern Utah, No. 10 Furman and No. 11 Colorado State.

“On the men’s side, it’s a who’s who of distance running,” Franklin said. “Up front, it’s going to be an incredible meet. On the women’s side, it’s just going to be like it always is: There’ll be six or seven teams banging it out for the win and we’ll see how it goes.”

For the Lobo women, they’ll look to it’s new “core four” to lead the charge.

Ednah Kurgat, the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Female Athlete of the Week two weeks ago, is the presumptive frontrunner for the UNM women, having torn apart the field at the Notre Dame Invitational two weeks ago.

She set the race record en route to the individual win, becoming New Mexico’s first titlist at the meet since Charlotte Arter in 2014.

However, Kurgat will have company on Friday, running alongside Alice Wright, Weini Kelati and Charlotte Prouse.

Wright, a three-time cross country All-American, was the runner up at this meet last season and took seventh two years ago as the Lobo women won the meet in record fashion. Prouse, a transfer from Washington, was fifth at Wisconsin in 2016 running with the Huskies.

Kelati, a freshman, has yet to run this course, but she’s shown extremely well to open the season, running to sixth at Notre Dame.

The key for the Lobos this week is to find their No. 5 runner, something that eluded them two weeks ago as they fell by four points to No. 1 Colorado.

There are plenty of capable candidates for New Mexico’s fifth scorer, including Kieran Casey (who was No. 5 for UNM at Notre Dame), Alex Buck (who was No. 5 at Wisconsin last fall), Alondra Negrón Texidor, Sophie Eckel, Sarah Laverty and Kendall Kelly.

“We just need to run very similar like to what we did a Notre Dame, which is traditionally what we’ve done,” Franklin said. “If we run similar, it’ll be a really good result.”

On the men’s side, they’ll look to continue improving after posting a strong showing at Notre Dame.

Powered by superb races from Alexander Palm (seventh) and Josh Kerr (18th), UNM was 10th two weeks ago and will aim for a similar finish in Madison.

“You have to place somewhere in the middle of the race,” Franklin said. “If you place in the middle of the race, you’re going to get done what you need to get done to have a shot to go to the national championship.

“We have two low sticks with Alex and Josh and we got to have 3-4-5 close the gap and beat people. … We’ve got to make sure we beat people and race incredibly hard.”

Along with Palm and Kerr, New Mexico can turn to Jonny Glen, Jacob Simonsen, Linton Taylor, Taylor Potter and Tyler Valdez as they race against a stacked field.

The women will compete Friday at 11:20 a.m. MT, while the men will toe the line at 12 p.m. MT. Check back Friday afternoon on GoLobos.com for meet results and a New Mexico recap.

Fans can follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Twitter and Instagram to keep track of the Lobos!