Lobo Women Open Season in Las Vegas, Nev.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s cross country team will open its season at the Battle Born Collegiate Cross Country Challenge on Friday in Las Vegas, Nev. This event will serve as the only event for the women’s team before the Mountain West Championships on March 5.
The Lobos are sending 11 runners to Las Vegas, all of which will be running in Race No. 4 starting at 11:45 a.m. MT.
“The last time the women were set to wear the turquoise New Mexico uniform was over 11 months ago at the canceled Indoor Track and Field NCAA Championships here in Albuquerque,” said head coach Joe Franklin.
“Now, on Friday, 11 women will wear that same uniform in a quest to build on the deep New Mexico Cross Country and Track and Field tradition.”
Leading the team will be senior Adva Cohen, who finished 55th in the NCAA Championships in 2019. Sophomore Gracelyn Larkin will be racing after helping the Lobos to a fourth-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championship. Red-shirt freshman Elise Thorner will make her UNM Cross Country debut after claiming the Track and Field Mountain West Championship in the distance medley relay in 2020.
Making their collegiate debut will be freshmen Semira Mebrahtu Firesghi, Ali Upshaw, Samrawit Dishon, Celeste Martinez and Andrea Engesaeth.
Garnering a Lobo jersey for the first time will be red-shirt senior Hannah Miller, senior Annamaria Kostarellis and sophomore Amelia Mazza-Downie. Miller comes to UNM as a six-time Southern Methodist University (SMU) record holder and an American Athletic Conference (AAC) XC Champion. Kostarellis was preciously at Xavier and was the runner-up at the 2019 BIG EAST Championships and finished 66th in the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championship. Mazza-Downie was on the UNM roster last year but will be competing for the first time in Friday’s race.
The Lobos were most recently ranked fourth in the Week 5 NCAA D1 Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll. The team has been in the top-five every week of this season.
Live results will be available here. No live stream will be available for this race.