Women's Cross Country Earns NCAA Bid at Mountain Regional
LOGAN, Utah — As Ednah Kurgat crossed the finish line in Logan, two things became clear for the University of New Mexico women’s cross country team.
Kurgat is on a roll and the Lobos are going back to the national championships.
Racing at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Friday, Kurgat won her fourth meet in as many tries this season, helping power the second-ranked New Mexico women to their 10th-consecutive berth at the NCAA Championships.
Paced by Kurgat, third-place finisher Weini Kelati and fifth-place finisher Charlotte Prouse, the Lobos took second overall at the regional meet en route to capturing one of the region’s two automatic berths to the NCAA Championships, which are next Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky.
On the men’s side, the New Mexico men placed eighth as a team in the 18-team race.
Although the men likely missed a potential at-large bid by one or two positions, they should be able to qualify Josh Kerr as an individual.
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.
Additionally, the next four individuals that finished top-25 at a regional but did not qualify as part of a team gain admission.
However, the trio of Kurgat, Kelati and Prouse ensured the Lobo women wouldn’t have to worry about any type of at-large bids as they teamed up to send UNM back to the NCAA Championships for the 10th year in a row.
The New Mexico women’s run of 10 straight NCAA Championship appearances is the sixth-longest active streak in Division I.
Guess who’s going back to nationals!
That’ll be 1??0?? straight appearances at the NCAA Championships! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/0smS1puzAl
— New Mexico T&F/XC (@UNMLoboXCTF) November 10, 2017
Kurgat won for the fourth consecutive meet this season, covering the six-kilometer course at the Steve & Dona Reeder Cross Country Course in 20 minutes, 1.4 seconds. Running in the top five for almost the entire race, Kurgat surged to the front over the final third of the race, winning by about two seconds over second-place finisher Grayson Murphy from Utah.
Kurgat’s win is the fourth Mountain Regional individual title for the Lobo women since 2013.
But, as it’s been multiple times this season, Kurgat wasn’t alone for long at the finish, with Kelati and Prouse crossing the line seconds later. Kelati finished third overall in 20:05.5, while Prouse was third in 20:15.3.
It’s the third time this season the trio all finished in the top 10, including a 1-2-3 finish at the Mountain West championships two weeks ago.
Alex Buck (27th place, time of 20:57.7) and Alondra Negrón Texidor (34th, 21:04.3) also scored for New Mexico, with Kieran Casey (36th, 21:06.4) and Sophie Eckel (61st, 21:28.0) also running.
With three-time cross country All-American Alice Wright — the Mountain Region champ in 2014 and 2016 — training back in Albuquerque, the Lobos still managed a team score of 70 points, their best score since a 50-point tally in 2015.
No. 1 Colorado posted 62 points to win the team title in the low-score-wins format.
For the men, Kerr 15th-place performance highlighted a solid day of running. Kerr finished the men’s 10-kilometer course in 15th place with a time of 30:43.5, and has a solid shot of making the NCAAs.
The Lobos will know if Kerr will advance on Saturday afternoon after the NCAA announces the list of at-large team and individual qualifiers.
Behind Kerr, was Alexander Palm, who placed 42nd in 31:26.9. Also scoring for the men were Jonny Glen (61st, 32:07.3), Jacob Simonsen (62nd, 32:08.0) and Linton Taylor (80th, 32:34.5).
Jared Garcia (87th, 32:44.7) and Tyler Valdez (111th, 33:49.0) also ran for the Lobos, who scored 260 points.
It’s the men’s best team finish since placing seventh in 2014.
No. 1 Northern Arizona (49 points) and No. 2 BYU (79) earned the two automatic bids, with No 5 Colorado (80), No. 8 Colorado State (103), No. 16 Air Force (118), No. 12 Southern Utah (127) and No. 23 Utah State (197) placing third through seventh.
The NCAA Championships are next Saturday, November 18, at E.P. ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
NOTES: This was the sixth straight second-place regional finish for the Lobos women, who last won in 2010 and 2011 …The last Lobo man to qualify as an individual to the NCAAs was Jeremy Johnson in 2007 … Johnson was an All-American that year, placing 20th.
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