Lobo Cross Country Opens Season at Lori Fitzgerald Open Saturday
ALBUQUERQUE, M.M. – New Mexico Cross Country kicks off its season Saturday at the Lori Fitzgerald Open in Las Cruces, N.M., the first competition for a new-look roster under first-year Head Coach Darren Gauson.
Saturday’s racing begins with the women’s 5K race at 7:30 a.m., followed by the men’s 5K at 8 a.m.
Both teams last raced at the Lori Fitzgerald Open in 2021, when the women’s squad placed first in the team score with 35 points and the men placed second with 60.
POLL WATCHING
Last week, the UNM women were picked to finish second in the Mountain West with 98 points and three first-place votes, with the men picked to finish sixth with 31 points to match their sixth-place finish in conference in 2022.
In the USTFCCCA Regional and National Polls released this week, the women ranked No. 4 in the Mountain Region and No. 21 nationally, with the men ranked No. 9 in the region.
The Lobo women have won 15 straight Mountain West titles and finished as runners-up at the NCAA XC Championship race last year, extending their streak of top-10 national finishes to 12 consecutive years.
NEW COACHING STAFF
For the first time since 2007, UNM enters the fall with a new head coach after the departure of Joe Franklin in the offseason, with a new-look distance coaching staff that includes assistant coaches Brian Maty and Elisabeth Danis.
Prior to being named as the Lobos’ next head coach for cross country and track & field, Gauson spent the last eight years as the head coach of the track and field and cross country programs at Bradley University in Illinois. He led the Braves to 10 Missouri Valley cross country titles — six by the men and four by the women. Prior to arriving in Peoria, Gauson was the cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Lamar University, where he guided the Cardinals to back-to-back Southland Conference men’s and women’s cross country titles in 2013 and 2014.
Last season, Maty helped coach Bradley to a sweep of Missouri Valley Conference titles in men’s and women’s cross country in 2022, while Danis was the lead assistant for a Gonzaga women’s program that reached its highest national and regional rankings in program history in 2022.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Live results for both races will be available via the 2023 Cross Country schedule page on GoLobos.com. Follow @UNMLoboTFXC on Instagram and @UNMLoboXCTF on X for live coverage, race content and more.