Women’s Cross Country Claims 14th Straight MW Championship, Men Place Seventh
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The No. 1 Lobos women’s cross country team showed why they are ranked first in the nation with a record-breaking performance in the Mountain West Championships today. The women placed first in the 6k race, while the men took seventh place in 8k race.
The Lobo women’s team scored 15 points to take first place, the third perfect score in conference championship history. The team broke records as the only team in Mountain West history to finish the championships with the top seven runners all being from the same school.
The Lobos’ 10 runners all placed within the first 30 finishers. Amelia Mazza-Downie led the Lobos and finished first with a time of 19:37.3, which is tied for the second-fastest time in Mountain West Championship history. Emma Heckel followed closely behind, earning second place with a time of 19:37.9. Less than four seconds later, Gracelyn Larkin crossed the finish line in 19:41.2 to take third place. Abbe Goldstein followed with a time of 19:44.2 for fourth place. Ali Upshaw earned fifth place with a time of 19:46. Samree Dishon and Stefanie Parsons rounded out the top seven with times of 19:51.8 and 19:55.8, respectively. All seven of the top runners earned All-Conference First Team Honors in a clean Lobo sweep of the awards.
Adva Cohen earned 11th place with a time of 20:05.1 to earn a spot in the Second Team. Andrea Modin Engesaeth took 19th place with a time of 20:28.6. Elise Thorner rounded out the Lobos with a 26th place finish and a time of 20:38.7.
As the top finisher in the women’s race, Mazza-Downie also earned herself MW Women’s Student-Athlete of the Year. Head coach Joe Franklin has built a Lobo dynasty by leading the women’s team to 14 straight conference titles, earning himself the Women’s Coach of the Year. This marks his 13th coach of the year award and fifth in a row (since 2017).
The men’s team took seventh place out of nine teams. Abdirizak Ibrahim led the Lobos with a fifth place finish and a time of 23:37.3 to earn himself All-Conference First Team honors. Matthew Larkin was the next Lobo to cross the finish line in 46th place with a time of 25:04.7. Reece Donihi, Iolo Hughes and Awet Yohannes finished next in the 51-53 spots, respectively, with times of 25:09, 25:10.5 and 25:11.3. Nehemiah Cionelo also competed in the race but did not finish.
The Lobos will next head to the NCAA Cross Country Mountain Regional, hosted by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, on Nov. 12.
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