Things are often better the second time around.
That was the case for the University of New Mexico cross country team after seeing Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin for a second time in three weeks when it competed in the 2018 Wisconsin Pre-Nationals.
The UNM men turned in a 12th place performance — 14 spots better than its showing on Sept. 28 — and the women's team took first place, improving on their third place finish a couple of weekends ago.
Sophomore runner Weini Kelati shaved off a few more seconds off of her 6k run time and was the fastest female on the course with a time of 19:33.3. Her Lobo teammate, Edna Kurgat finished in second place with a mark of 19:45.5 — as the one-two punch set the tempo for the field.
New Mexico placed three runners in the top-10 for the second meet in a row as Charlotte Prouse ran the course in 20:18.4 to come in ninth place. Adva Cohen and Hannah Nuttall rounded out the Lobo women's scoring with a 14th and 41st place finish, respectively.
UNM was one of three schools to see all five scorers finish in the top-50 of the large field, but finished comfortably ahead with a lowest-score-wins team total of 67 points. Michigan and Stanford were the other two teams to accomplish the feat, but finished well behind as the Spartans tallied 120 points for second place and the Cardinal finished with a team mark of 129 for third.
Some Lobo women also ran in the "gray" draw, where UNM took fourth place. Catrina Thomas finished third overall in that run, clocking a time of 21:17.5 as the leading New Mexico point-getter in that race.
On the men's side, the Lobos placed three student-athletes in the top-100, with the other two scorers narrowly missing that accomplishment.
UNM senior Toby Cooke paced the Lobos, taking 24:28.4 to complete the 8k run. Jonny Glen and Jared Garcia finished almost simultaneously at 24:50.4 and 24:51.7 to place 67th and 69th overall. Underclassmen Iolo Hughes and Reece Donihi notched a 113th and 117th place finish to garner a 12th place team finish for the Lobos with 404 points.
Regional opponent Brigham Young University took top honors for the men's race, with an impressive team score of 29 as all five Cougar scorers finished in the top-12. Washington was the next-best finisher with a team total of 106 points, followed by 195 points for Syracuse to finish third overall.
New Mexico will travel to La Jolla, California to compete in the Triton Classic Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 20, followed by the Mountain West Championships — which are also in California — on Friday, Oct. 26.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers basketball and baseball and contributes content for various other sports as well. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Robert_Maler.
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