Both New Mexico cross country teams repeated the solid performances many have come to expect of them, with one squad protecting its crown in the Mountain West Championships on Friday in Kuna, Idaho.
The women’s team finished on top with 42 points to hoist its ninth consecutive MW title, while the men’s team also showed a solid performance, placing fifth in the championship.
“Great race on the women's side,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said in a release.
Although the women won the title with the highest score ever to win a conference championship, they still dominated the race as Alice Wright and Calli Thackery finished 1-2.
Wright finished with a time of 20:02.70, winning her first Mountain West individual title. Her last victory dated back to the 2014 NCAA Mountain Regional Championships in Albuquerque.
Thackery crossed the line closely behind Wright, finishing in 20:11.30. The duo kept running together in the race, and took the lead over third-place finisher Carina Gillespie (20:17.90) of Air Force and Boise State’s Brenna Peloquin (20:27.40), who ran fourth.
“Alice and Calli and (Boise State’s) Brenna Peloquin went out and started hammering it and did a really good job,” Franklin said. “The break happened going into the third lap, and Alice kept driving and Calli kept going, which was very positive.”
Both Wright and Thackery were named First-Team All-Mountain West, while two other UNM scorers — Sophie Connor and Natasha Bernal — made the second team.
Connor and Bernal finished almost together as Connor (20:52.10) finished 10th and Bernal (20:56.20) ran 11th. Kendall Kelly (21:15.80) was the final scorer for Lobos at 18th.
Four other women also ran for UNM at the race. Kathryn Fluerhr (21:35.60) ran 30th, Alex Buck (21:40.20) was closely behind her at 33rd, Kieran Casey (21:51.80) finished 42nd and Kyoko Koyama (22:17.60) ranked 58th.
"To do it year-in and year-out and fight in the last 1,000 meters, which they did today, is really positive," Franklin said of the women’s victory.
Air Force came in second behind UNM with 53 points, and Boise State placed third with 86 in the women’s race.
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On the men’s side, the young Lobo squad ran together as a pack and totaled 131 points to place fifth.
Two seniors Graham Thomas and Jesus Mendoza led the men’s team in the eight-kilometer race just as they did at Wisconsin two weeks ago.
“I felt that from a team standpoint, it was very positive and moving in the right direction,” Franklin said.
Thomas finished at 18th place with a time of 24:36.70 and Mendoza (25:00.10) ran 28th.
Three other Lobos scorers crossed the finishing line in a row. Adam Cotton (25:06.50) ended up at 31st, Alexander Palm (25:06.70) 32nd and Zac Castillo (25:08.70) 33rd.
Other runners on the men’s side included Jacob Simonsen (40th, 25:22.00), Emil Danielsson (49th, 25:35.80), Jared Garcia (50th, 25:44.60) and Tyler Valdez (62nd, 26:50.60).
Boise State won the men’s championship with 41 points, Colorado State ranked second with seven more points and Air Force placed third with 61 points.
The next stop for the Lobos is the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships on November 11 in Logan, Utah.
“They’re healthy and fit and are running well and building for the future,” Franklin said of the championship. “They are getting in position to win championships again.”
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country and volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
