Even though the season ended on Saturday, the UNM cross country team wasn’t done bringing home hardware.
Head Coach Joe Franklin was named NCAA Division I National Women’s Coach of the Year on Tuesday by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
This is the second time Franklin has received national coach of the year honors, also earning the distinction for the men’s team in 2004 at Butler University. It is an honor that is voted on by his coaching peers.
The award comes on the heels of the team completing an historic run that culminated in winning its first national championship on Saturday. All five scorers finished in the top 25, which earned them All-American honors. Franklin said some media outlets are calling the performance the greatest race ever run at an NCAA Championship.
“It’s a wonderful honor,” Franklin said. “That award is a product of what the woman did on Saturday and the coaches and staff that help every day. It’s literally the cherry on top.”
The display on the national stage should not have been surprising considering the dominant fashion in which the team won throughout the season. The Lobos built an impressive résumé by posting victories at the Joe Piane Invitational, the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational, and the Mountain West Cross Country Championships.
The team placed at least four runners in the top 10 in each of those meets. The only meet it didn’t win, was last week’s Mountain Regional Championships in Albuquerque where it finished one point away from completing a perfect sweep. However, the team also sat two of its starters and was essentially resting up for nationals.
Senior Courtney Frerichs, a senior runner, was one of the leaders on the team all season. Frerichs said she transferred to UNM for just such an opportunity and felt there was potential for something special.
She said Franklin did a great job of providing individual training and altered his approach to meet their needs. She said a big factor was Franklin’s ability to help the team block outside influences so they felt no stress when race time came.
“Keeping such a wonderful environment for us to be successful in,” Frerichs said. “We had quite a bit of outside pressure as far as the rankings go, but never was there pressure going into races.”
The head coach, never one to embrace the spotlight, deflected the praise onto his team and university officials. He said it is really special that, with approximately 350 Division I schools that have a cross country program, UNM can say they have the best. He said he appreciates being given the opportunity to be a coach and take part in that.
“It’s never been about me. It’s about the team and everything we did together,” he said. “It’s a testament to John Perry, the AD at Butler, that took a chance on a kid that had no coaching experience, and Paul Krebs, who took a chance on a kid from Butler University.”
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Robert Maler is a reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
