ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobo cross country team travels to Notre Dame for the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, set for Friday morning.
Running in the 8:30 a.m. MT women’s Blue 5000m race will be Samree Dishon, Sarah Eckel, Isabella Fauria, Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi, Abbe Goldstein, Maisie Grice, Emma Heckel, Gracelyn Larkin, Amelia Mazza-Downie, Christina Nisoli, Elise Thorner, Ali Upshaw, Samantha Valentine and Danielle Verster. Only Fauria and Nisoli ran in the season opener at Texas Tech.
New Mexico women’s team enter the race ranked third in the latest USTFCCCA national rankings, and will be tested in the Blue race against No. 1 NC State, No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 10 Alabama.
Although running in their first race this season, the Lobo lineup will feature returning All-Americans Heckel and Larkin, as well Goldstein, Mazza-Downie and Upshaw, who all competed in last year’s NCAA Championship.
The men will follow in the five-mile race at 9:15 a.m. MT, and will line up Ethan Brouw, Jonathan Carmin, Nehemiah Cionelo, Joshua Galindo, Yehonatan Haim, Abdirizak Ibrahim, Matthew Larkin, Kevin Mulcaire, Awet Yohannes.
In their first race of the season, the men won the Texas Tech Open with 37 points behind the top three finishers of Mulcaire, Carmin and Yohannes and had four in the top 10 with Haim.
UNM will race against nationally-ranked Notre Dame (No. 14), Montana State (No. 22), Butler (No. 24), Alabama (No. 25) and Michigan (No. 27).
In last year’s race at Notre Dame, the women finished second, with Heckel, Mazza-Downie, Larkin and Goldstein running on the women’s side and Ibrahim, Yohannes and Larkin running on the men’s side. Mebrahtu Firezghi, Dishon, Thorner and Upshaw all ran in the open division race.
The Lobos will don the traditional turquoise tops in Friday’s race, but will also wear orange shirts in warmups and orange ribbons to recognize and honor Indigenous People on Orange Shirt Day. A day of healing and reconciliation to the Native community, Orange Shirt Day is a day of significance for Upshaw and the Lobos, with Upshaw from Fort Defiance, Arizona and a Native runner.
Watch below to hear from Upshaw on Friday’s Orange Shirt Day.