The Mountain West Conference cross country championships were slated to begin Saturday in San Diego, but MWC officials announced Wednesday that the championship meet will be moved to UNM due to the ongoing fires in southern California.
UNM head coach Matt Henry said Albuquerque is the best location for the meet since smoke has damaged the air quality at UNLV, and Colorado State and BYU are expecting snow this weekend. Henry also said it would be good for his team because they don't get to compete at home very often.
"It's a huge advantage," he said. "We're at home, we know the course, and hopefully we'll have some people out there cheering for us."
But Henry and the cross country staff have had to scramble to be ready for tomorrow's race. The coaching staff gladly accepted the challenge and immediately went to work.
"I've got a great staff," Henry said. "If it weren't for them I couldn't pull this thing off. They have dropped everything to help me put this thing together."
It is the second time in three years UNM has played host the championships.
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Henry said the tournament will be one of the most fun and challenging of the year.
"Our conference is probably the best in the country," he said. "It is stacked with men and women runners who are very good. It's a fun meet, but it's a very serious meet and a lot of competition."
Leading the Lobo cross country team this year are seniors Sean Flaherty and Sarah Gonzales, who have been UNM's top finishers in the men's and women's races.
Flaherty's best performance this year came at the MWC Pre-Championship meet in San Diego, where he ran to a second place finish.
Gonzales cut over two minutes off her time from last year's championships at the Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina in September. Gonzales finished the 6K race in a time of 20:08, and she didn't stop there.
Gonzales went on to win the Canyon West Classic on Oct. 21 in Tempe, Ariz. It was Gonzales' second career victory and the first team victory for the UNM women's team under coach Henry.
Henry said he expects Gonzales and Flaherty to lead the team into the championships, but understands the difficulty of the task at hand.
"I wish they could be in the top 10," he said. "That is a very hard task, but they're very capable of doing it."
Another senior who has become a major contributor to the men's team is senior Leighton Katsuda.
Katsuda finished in the top-10 earlier this month at the race in Tempe.
He said the Lobo squad was excited to find out the championship meet had been moved to UNM.
"It's nice because we don't have to rush to get to the airport or get to the hotel," he said. "And the course is just right down the street from campus."
Katsuda added that he hopes there will be a crowd of UNM supporters in attendance Saturday.
The MWC Championship races will get under way at 10 a.m. Saturday at the UNM North Golf Course, which is located on Yale Blvd. just north of Lomas.
