ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Cross Country opens its 2026 season at home as hosts of the Lobo XC Invitational Saturday at the UNM North Course, with the nationally-ranked women's team set to compete on the course where NCAA Mountain Regional Championships will be hosted in November along with high school and community races to follow.
Only unattached runners will be competing for the UNM men on Saturday, with three Lobo women running the race in the New Mexico uniform -- Kylie Feeney, Anya Belisle and Noel Barlette.
Collegiate action gets underway with the women’s 5K at 7:30 a.m. MT, followed by the men’s 5K at 7:55 a.m. High school varsity and junior varsity races will follow beginning at 8:20 a.m., with the morning concluding with a Community Open Fun Run and high school “C” race at 10:15 a.m.
Live results for Saturday’s races will be available via GoLobos.com/XCResults.
ABOUT THE UNM NORTH COURSE
Located at 5,085 feet above sea level, the UNM North Course has served as the home of Lobo cross country since the 2000 season. The course is run almost entirely on grass across the golf course’s fairways, with only a few short dirt sections, and has previously hosted the Mountain West Championships as well as five NCAA Mountain Region Championships.
The 2026 NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Nov. 13 will mark the seventh time the Lobos have hosted the event since the NCAA regional format was adopted in 1997.
New Mexico most recently hosted the regional championships in 2022, when the Lobo women won the Mountain Region team title. This year’s meet will again bring the region’s top programs and individuals to Albuquerque, with the top two men’s and women’s teams earning automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships.
UNM swept the regional men’s and women’s team titles in 2025 in Salt Lake City, going on to finish second for men and fourth for women at NCAA XC Championships a week later.
PRESEASON RANKINGS ARE IN
New Mexico will open the 2026 season with both its men’s and women’s teams ranked No. 2 in the nation in the USTFCCCA Preseason Coaches’ Poll, giving the Lobos a pair of Top-Two teams to begin a season for the first time in program history.
The reigning Mountain Region champions for both men and women also clocked in at No. 1 in Monday's regional rankings.
The No. 2 preseason ranking matches the highest in program history for the Lobo men, who also opened the 2025 season in the same spot before going on to produce their best NCAA team finish in program history. Prior to last season, the UNM men had never been ranked higher than No. 5 at any point in the USTFCCCA national poll.
For the women, the No. 2 ranking is their highest since finishing the 2022 season ranked second nationally and their highest preseason position since also opening that season at No. 2. It marks the 10th time in program history that the Lobo women have opened a season ranked among the nation’s Top Four and the fifth time they have started at No. 2 or better.
2025 IN REVIEW / 2026 SEASON PREVIEW
New Mexico enters 2026 coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history, with both squads earning team trophies at the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships for the first time. The Lobo men finished as national runners-up while the women placed fourth, making UNM the only program in the country to put both its men’s and women’s teams on the podium. Habtom Samuel capped the season by becoming the first man from New Mexico to win an individual NCAA cross country title.
The Lobos were equally dominant throughout the postseason, sweeping both the men’s and women’s team titles at the Mountain West and NCAA Mountain Region Championships. UNM has now won three consecutive MW men’s championships and 17 of the last 18 women’s titles, extending its streak of winning at least one conference team championship to 18 straight seasons.
Although Samuel turned professional during the offseason, New Mexico returns the bulk of its production from last year’s podium teams and enters 2026 as the Mountain West favorite on both sides. The Lobo men received seven of eight first-place votes in the league’s preseason coaches’ poll, while the women earned nine of 10 first-place votes.
On the women's side, the Lobos return two national champions in Pamela Kosgei (2025 Outdoor 5K and 10K) and Marion Jepngetich (2026 Outdoor 5K) -- the men get back three of their five point-scorers from last season's runner-up team, including First Team All-Americans Collins Kiprotich (8th at NCAA's in 2025), Evans Kiplagat (13th) and Vincent Chirchir (20th).
UNM will look to qualify both teams for NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season, with a six-meet schedule that includes the Cowboy Jamboree and Nuttycombe Invitational before postseason competition begins Oct. 30 at the Mountain West Championships in Reno. The Lobos will then return home to host the NCAA Mountain Region Championships Nov. 13 at the UNM North Course before NCAA Championships Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind.