ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico cross country/track & field program earned a number of honors Sunday night at the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame (NMSHOF) Banquet at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Led by its national champion women’s cross country team, the NMSHOF Collegiate Team of the Year, the Lobos swept the collegiate superlative awards with the Coach of the Year Joe Franklin, Female Athlete of the Year Ednah Kurgat and Male Athlete of the Year Josh Kerr.
The New Mexico women’s cross country team claimed its second honor as the Collegiate Team of the Year in the last two years after winning its second NCAA team title since 2015.
At the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships, the Lobos registered their eighth-straight top-10 performance at the NCAA Championships — the longest active streak in NCAA history — and the team’s third top-three showing in the last four years, joining 2014’s third-place finish.
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| Ednah Kurgat |
New Mexico placed four of its five of its scorers in the top 15, led by its group of four All-Americans: individual champ Ednah Kurgat, Weini Kelati (seventh place), Charlotte Prouse (12th) and Alice Wright (14th). Additionally, Alondra Negrón Texidor finished 85th to round out the Lobos’ scoring.
In recognition of leading UNM to the title, Franklin was accorded his fourth NMSHOF Collegiate Coach of the Year honor.
The Peter Tegen Award for National Women’s Coach of the Year, Franklin coached the Lobos to the team titles at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and Mountain West Championships (their 10th straight).
Franklin was also named the Mountain West Women’s Coach of the Year for the ninth time.
Kurgat also claimed Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year for her individual NCAA cross country title.
The USTFCCCA Women’s National Athlete of the Year, Kurgat won the program’s first-ever NCAA individual title in cross country, capping an undefeated season in which she won all five meets she ran at.
Kurgat won the individual titles at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, the Mountain West Championships and the Mountain Region Championships before emerging with an NCAA Championships record time for the six-kilometer race.
She was also named All-American, USTFCCCA Division I Mountain Region Women’s Athlete of the Year and Mountain West Cross Country Female Athlete of the Year.
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| Josh Kerr |
Kurgat is the second athlete in program history to claim the honor, joining 2015 honoree Courtney Frerichs.
Kerr rounded out the Lobos’ parade of honors as he was recognized for his sweep of the NCAA titles in the mile run and 1500-meter run at the 2017 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor championships.
The 2016-17 Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year, Kerr was also named as the 2017 MW Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year and a semifinalist for the 2017 Men’s Bowerman Award, the highest individual honor in collegiate track & field.
At the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships at Gilliam Indoor Track in College Station, Texas, Kerr defeated 17-time national champion Edward Cheserek of Oregon in the mile to claim his first NCAA crown.
He followed that with his second national title, winning the 1500 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
He is just the 11th athlete in NCAA history — and the first since 2008 — to accomplish the indoor/outdoor sweep.