High elevation and the rolling landscape of the Land of Echantment are proving to play a pivotal role for the University of New Mexico men's cross country squad.
Ten of 11 runners on the Lobos team are native New Mexicans, with lone out-of-state runner Leighton Katsuda, heralding from Wailuku, Hawaii. The Lobos have emerged from thin air as one of the best cross-country teams in school history. They are just shy of being among the elite in the nation. Recently ranked 27th in the 2002 NCAA polls, it is the team's first appearance in the top 30 in more than a decade.
With a team victory last weekend at the Stanford Invitational, UNM brought its record to a perfect 3-0, continuing it's early season success. It ousted 29 other cross-country teams including 30th-ranked California State Polytechnic University and a split squad from Stanford University -- the number one team in the nation.
Sophomore Cameron Clarke led the way, finishing second overall in the race and first among his teammates with a personal-best time of 23:51. Not far behind was junior and assumed team leader Matthew Gonzales, who also posted a personal-best time of 23:55 en route to an overall fourth-place finish. The next two UNM runners streaking past the finish line were freshman Jeremy Johnson and co-team leader junior Ben Ortega. They crossed the line side-by-side in a time of 24:19 finishing in 16th and 17th places, respectively. Junior Nick Martinez finished off the team scoring in 51st place, 1:05 behind Clarke.
UNM cross-country coach Matt Henry, the former La Cueva High School head track coach, took over this program in 2000. He has rejuvenated a once mediocre program into a nationally respected force. In each of his first two years at UNM, he has coached the team to more victories than the previous year. This year his team is undefeated and hungry for more wins. In May of 2002, Henry was the first UNM track-and-field coach ever to be named Mountain West Conference Track and Field Coach of the Year.
The Lobos worked hard in the off-season preparing for the 2002 season. The potential and the talent were in place from last year's team and they knew they could do something special this year.
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"I went to my hometown of Taos, N.M., this summer and logged about 100 to 150 miles a week, running 80 percent of those miles in the foothills and the mountains," Ortega said.
This weekend, a split squad of UNM runners will travel to Stillwater, Okla. to race in the 66th annual Cowboy Jamboree, an 8K race hosted by Oklahoma State University. The Jamboree is the oldest consecutive cross-country race in the United States, having been run every year since 1936. The Lobos will travel to this event without their usual top seven runners. They will send mostly inexperienced underclassmen, which will give them a chance to gain some experience for future races.
"Our non-starters compete and push us in practice," Ortega said. "But they don't possess the experience that our top seven runners have. The trip to Oklahoma will give them experience for the future. They will do a great job representing the UNM cross-country team."
UNM will rest its top runners in preparation for NCAA Pre-Nationals, which will be held Oct. 19, in Terre Haute, Ind.
The pre-nationals are very important for the team because the competition weighs heavily on team rankings, which inevitably aids a chance to qualify for Nationals.
Last year's squad sent two runners to the NCAA Championships, giving UNM its first NCAA qualifiers in four years and largest contingent since 1988. Matthew Gonzales finished 30th and became the Lobos' first cross-country All-American since 1982. This year, the runners will be looking to qualify as a team and try to defy history.
The Lobos will need to place in the Top 5 at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships hosted by the UNM in Mid-November to qualify for Nationals.
