Take it nationally.
That’s what Joe Franklin’s cross country team intends to do.
After back-to-back sweeps in 2009-10 at the MWC Championships and the NCAA regionals, the Lobos are galloping toward a three-peat, but are more preoccupied with winning a national title.
Franklin, the 2010 NCAA Mountain Region Coach of the Year, said how quickly the team adjusts to losing 10 seniors will determine how successful it will be. For his part, Franklin spent the offseason reloading on talent, but he’s not ready to talk about newcomers until he sees them face-to-face on Aug. 17.
“I don’t like to count my chickens until they’re actually on campus,” he said. “You never know if they’re going to get on the plane and show up.”
In November, the men’s team did more than just show up at the NCAA championships in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Lobos placed 16th, and with junior Ross Millington returning, it looks like they haven’t reached their peak.
Junior Nicholas Kipruto and sophomore Sam Evans will complement Millington, and they’ll look to fill holes left by the departure of Rory Fraser and All-American Keith Gerrard.
Franklin said he expects redshirt freshman Vincent Montoya to contribute as well.
The women’s team, too, is coming off a fifth-place finish at the NCAA tournament, its highest in history.
The women will look to replace All-American Ruth Senior, who was a big part of the reason the Lobos finished so high at nationals.
Lucky for UNM, it still has junior Natalie Gray, who finished 15th during nationals.
Sophomores Lacey Oeding and Kaitlyn Barry and junior Kirsty Milner are also key cogs if UNM is to replicate and build on its previous success.
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If anything, Franklin said, UNM has a reputation to live up to — but that’s not a bad thing.
“We have the expectation that we’re going to be a national-level team,” he said.
Lobo Invitational
Sept. 3
8 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
UNM North Golf Course
