The New Mexico cross country team is ready to officially start its 2016-2017 season with high expectations at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Friday in Notre Dame, Indiana.
It was at the Notre Dame Invite last year that the New Mexico women’s cross country team finished in first place, and stormed to its dominant performances in the program’s first-ever national title in November.
The latest National Coaches’ Poll voted the women’s team No. 2 in the country, behind Providence, who the Lobos face this weekend. UNM held the No. 1 position for the past ten weeks.
Although UNM enters the new season with expectations to defend its national championship, head coach Joe Franklin said the lofty bar set last year doesn’t make the team feel any different, its goals hasn’t changed after being the last team standing last fall.
“No, no changes, that’s the goal. Because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Make sure you are doing the right things. Any given day, you got a chance.”
Franklin emphasized the team had fun and never talked about winning, and that the coaches care more about the fitness and health of their team members rather than performance.
“If you care about those things, their performances are going to happen,” Franklin said.
However, after winning the national title, some change was inevitable. Redshirt junior Alice Wright admitted there would be more pressure, even though there was no actual expectation from the head coach.
“Definitely brings more pressure for us,” Wright said. “But at that moment (of winning national title), we were feeling pretty relaxed.”
Wright did not treat pressure as a problem for the Lobos as they were always running as a team.
“Because it does actually take off your own pressure for being in your own team,” Wright said.
Wright finished fifth overall in the NCAA Championship last year, scoring for New Mexico at the title race. She was also honored as the Mountain Region Women’s Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
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Franklin spoke highly of Wright’s performance and hard work. He said her intense determination could influence the whole team to another big run in 2016.
“She is clearly one of the best. She continues to get better. What she has done at such a consistent high level is very impressive,” Franklin said.
Wright had confidence in the new season, saying she would try as hard as possible to make this season the best one yet, stressing that an NCAA title is always her goal.
While the women’s team is aiming to defend its Notre Dame title, the New Mexico men’s team opens its week of the Notre Dame Invite at No. 8 in the USTFCCCA Mountain Rankings. The team finished in ninth place among the 20 teams who competed at the invite last year.
Franklin said the men’s group was very young, but with more experience comes high expectations at this week’s invite.
“We are young, young, young. That’s OK though. That’s positive,” Franklin said. “This weekend is going to be eye-opening in many ways.”
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He mainly covers Cross-Country. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com.
