The men and women of Lobo cross country started off the 2011 season in good form last Saturday in their first meet of the season.
Senior Nicholas Kipruto won the men’s 8,000-meter at the Lobo Invitational, held at UNM’s North Golf Course, for the second year in a row while the women’s team placed six runners in the top 15 in the 5,000-meter race with Ruth Senior placing second.
Head coach Joe Franklin said since it’s early in the season half of his runners, including returning All-American Natalie Gray, didn’t compete. However, he said the runners that competed on Saturday performed well.
“We held out quite a few people, but those that ran did a phenomenal job,” Franklin said. “Senior is one of the best runners in the country, and we saw some good things from some of the young ones, too.”
When the Lobos run again in two weeks, Franklin will play the other half of the team. But their first real opener is in four weeks, when the Lobos face Notre Dame.
Kipruto led the way in his race for most of the 8,000 meters, crossing the finish line in 24:19. The second-place finisher, Kip Mutai from Fort Lewis, finished almost a minute behind Kipruto with a time of 25:18.
Kipruto, a senior, said he had no doubts that he was going to win his final home meet.
“It’s the only home meet we have, and being a senior I told myself I was going to run smart and run good,” he said. “It was not as fast as last year’s time, but I was definitely going for the win.”
Redshirt Freshmen Pierre Malherbe and Edwin Herring finished in eighth and 19th, respectively, while freshman Allen Pittman rounded out the top 20.
On the women’s side, Senior placed second with a time of 17:29 in the 5,000-meter race and senior Kirsty Milner finished just behind her in third.
Senior said the fans inspired the team to a high finish.
“It feels really good to be at home,” she said. “There is really a lot of support and people were cheering the whole way around. The first meet is a good marker of where you’re at. I knew I was running quite well, but you never really know until you race.”
Sophomores Kirsten Follett and Kaitlyn Barry finished in the top 10, placing seventh and ninth. Redshirt Sophomore Janna Mitsos placed 14th and freshman Sophia Torres placed 15th.
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The Lobos took on NMSU, UTEP and a host of Division-II schools. No overall team score was held, but Senior said that the competition is going to get much better as the season goes on.
“There are some really good runners here, but this is not the same competition … as we would in regionals and nationals,” Senior said. “We are always going to finish higher up here, and it’s lovely at the beginning of the season, but the competition coming up will be way stronger.”
