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Four Lobos Named All-Region, Women Ranked Seventh in Coaches' Poll

USTFCCCA RELEASE | USTFCCCA NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Four University of New Mexico cross country runners have been named to the NCAA Division I Cross Country All-Region team as announced by the USTFCCCA on Monday.

Adva Cohen, Weini Kelati, Ednah Kurgat and Hannah Nuttall all received all-region, with 225 women and 225 men from a total of 139 institutions making the list. The distinction is given to student-athletes who finish in the top 25 among the nine regional sites across the country.

The honors come following the NCAA Mountain Regional on Friday afternoon in Salt Lake City, Utah, in which the Lobos finished second as a team with 83 points to claim an automatic berth to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

For Kelati and Kurgat, this is the third all-region accolade for both, with both runners finishing first and second, respectively, the last two years in the regional championship race. In 2017, Kurgat finished first with Kelati third, but in the past two years the roles have reversed with Kelati taking the individual title.

In Friday’s race, Kelati cruised to a consecutive title with a time of 18:58.7, 57.2 seconds ahead of Kurgat’s time of 19:55.9. In addition, Kelati’s time was the fastest among all of the nine NCAA regional winners, with the second-fastest time coming from Hannah Reichardt of Albany in the Northeast Regional Championship with 19:28.4.

Cohen earned her second all-region honor with a 15th-place showing of 20:24.3, while holding steady in her place in the field throughout the 6K race.

Nuttall picked up her first all-region selection following a 25th-place result at 20:42.1, with the redshirt-senior moving through the field as the race progressed, going from 28th at the 2K mark of the race to 31st with 2K remaining before improving six spots in the final portion of the race.

Also announced by the USTFCCCA on Monday, the Lobo women moved up three spots in the national coaches’ poll to seventh with 270 points. UNM trails No. 6 NC State by one point, and No. 5 Michigan State by six points in the week 7 ranking. Arkansas enters the championship as the No. 1 team in the country, earning 10 first-place votes and 329 points, followed by Stanford with 316 points and one first-place vote.

The Lobo women will finish the season their season at the national championship for the 12th consecutive season, with the 6K race to be held on Saturday, Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. The women’s race is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. MT and will be streamed on FloTrack HERE. Live results can be found HERE.