by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
UNM head cross country coach Matt Henry may not expect his teams to win the Mountain West Conference Championships, but that doesn't mean he isn't counting on some good results.
"I don't think anybody can beat BYU on the women's side or the men's side," Henry said. "But, we got a shot to do something pretty special."
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The UNM men's and women's cross country teams will head to Salt Lake City on Saturday to compete in the MWC Championships.
The Lobo women were picked to finish third in the MWC
preseason poll. Last year, the women placed second, which is the best in school history.
Senior Timmie Murphy led that team by placing third overall. In her final cross country season, Murphy said she wants to make the All-MWC team again by finishing in the top 10.
"I sure hope so," Murphy said. "I think that Leslie (Luna) and I should both be where we were at last year."
Luna, a junior, joined Murphy as an all-conference performer with her sixth-place finish last year.
While Murphy and Luna are experienced runners who have had success in the past, the rest of the women's squad is young. Of the eight female runners traveling to Utah, three are freshmen and four have never competed at the conference championships.
The team is inexperienced, but the younger runners have shown promise, Murphy said.
"I think that we're all kind of confident going into it," she said. "Our freshmen are running really well. Leslie's running really well right now. I think we should be all right."
Henry said the way Murphy and Luna race will be key to how the team does.
"The conference meet has always been a pretty good meet for us," he said. "I hope that they can pull us through."
On the men's side, the Lobos will be led by juniors Jeremy Johnson and Joseph Garcia and by senior Juan Ortega.
The men were picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll, where the team finished in last year's conference championships.
Johnson, an All-MWC honoree in track and field, is coming off a 48th-place finish out of 246 runners at the NCAA Prenationals in Terre Haute, Ind.
Henry said he was pleased with the results of that race, considering it is one of the biggest meets of the season.
The Lobos' performance there shows that UNM can hold its own with the rest of the MWC, he said.
"Even though you can get lost in that kind of competition, we still did some nice things," Henry said. "When you compare what we did with the other conference schools, I think our chances are as good as anybody's."
Henry said the top-three runners, Johnson, Ortega and Garcia, need to race well on Saturday.
If so, everything else should fall into place, he said.
"From our older guys, we basically need the help from them," Henry said. "If we get that, I think we could probably have a pretty special day."
Cross country
At Mountain West Conference
Championships
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Salt Lake City
