Women’s Results (PDF) | Men’s Results (PDF)
MADISON, Wis.— Sophomore Weini Kelati was not going to be denied this time around.
After narrowly missing out on the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational the last time out on the Zimmer Championship Course, the Leesburg, Va., native left no doubt as she navigated the 6K course at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals in 19:33.3 to take the White race individual title. Kelati improved 2.6 seconds from her last race two weeks ago and won the race by over 12 seconds.
Following behind her with a runner-up finish was junior Ednah Kurgat, crossing the line at 19:45.5. Senior Charlotte Prouse produced another top-10 finish, placing ninth with a time of 20:18.35. Adva Cohen finished in the top-20 with a 15th-place showing of 20:35.48, and Hannah Nuttall completed the team scoring with 41 points after clocking 21:05.84.
As a team, the Lobos took the team title in the White race, scoring 67 team points and finishing 53 points ahead of the next lowest team, Michigan.
Through the first third of the race, Kurgat (6:36.5) and Kelati (6:37.7) were first and second, respectively, with Kelati in a tie with Kansas’ Sharon Lokedi. Prouse held at ninth (6:40.9), Cohen was in 20th (6:47) and Nuttall was 47th (6:54.8), with UNM in the team lead in scoring 79 points in the first 2K.
At the 4K mark, Kelati and Kurgat were running just .2 seconds apart from each other with Kelati taking the lead with a time of 13:14.5. Prouse moved up two spots to seventh and Cohen improved five places with just two-kilometers remaining in the race.
From there, Kelati pulled away from Kurgat and finished the remaining portion of the race in just 6:18.75 to take the title.
In the men’s 8K race, Toby Cooke and Jonny Glen started off strong, running in the top-10 through the first 2K, both with a time of 5:53.2. Cooke fell back to 52nd at the 5.8K mark (17:42.7), before he closed out the race and improved 14 spots to finish as the top-finisher for the Lobos in 38th with a time of 24:28.32.
Glen was the next UNM runner to finish in 67th (24:50.4), followed shortly later by Jared Garcia (69th, 24:51.7). Iolo Hughes (113th, 25:09.7) and Reece Donihi (25:11.6) completed the scoring for the Lobos, who finished 12th in the team standings of the men’s White race with 404 points.
Catrina Thomas finished third in the women’s gray race, completing the 6K race in 21:17.5, and Natasha Bernal finished in 22:17.2 to place 32nd. Juanita Johnson was behind her in 36th, crossing at 22:19.5, Johanna Briscoe completed the race at 22:50.5 and Kendall Kelly (22:42.3) to complete the Lobo entries.
Up next for UNM is the Triton Classic Cross Country Invitational in La Jolla, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 20. This will be the final race before the Mountain West Championships on Friday, Oct. 26.