The UNM men’s and women’s cross country teams finished eighth and third, respectively, at last Friday’s Notre Dame Invitational in Southbend, Ind.
The teams dropped in this week’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. The men, who were ranked 21st in the nation last week, hold the 25th spot. The women dropped from second place to seventh.
Senior Ruth Senior said the drop in rankings was expected.
“I’m not surprised,” Senior said. “We obviously got beaten at Notre Dame. But it really doesn’t mean anything. Right now, we need to qualify for nationals, and it’s probably nicer if we’ve dropped a bit, have a little less tension on us.”
Nicholas Kipruto led the way for the men finishing in seventh place, just 13 seconds behind Brigham Young University’s Miles Batty, who won the race with a time of 23:59. Kipruto took second place last year at the invite.
On the women’s side, Senior continued her impressive Lobo career with an 11th place finish with a time of 17:17. Silje Fjortoft, from Southern Methodist University, led the pack of 225 runners in 16:54.
“The women ran like I thought they would,” head coach Joe Franklin said. “I thought the men struggled in the back-end.”
Ross Millington finished 10th and Sean Stam in 42nd to join Kipruto as the only three Lobo men to finish in the top 100.
The women had more success with six top-100 runners. Kirsty Milner finished 20th, Lacey Oeding took 28th, Josephine Moultrie claimed 45th, Imogen Ainsworth placed 60th and Sarah Waldron finished 94th.
This was the first big meet for several Lobos and Franklin said it showed.
“Some were good and some looked like deer in headlights,” Franklin said.
Weather was supposed to play a factor in the race, with the forecast calling for rain, freezing temperatures and large gusts of wind; instead it was a beautiful autumn day, Senior said.
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“The course is known for being very fast,” Senior said. “It wasn’t quite as fast this year as normal, but the conditions definitely weren’t bad.”
This was Senior’s first official race of the season and she said it took her some time to get settled.
“I was completely taken aback by the start of the race,” Senior said. “I had completely forgotten how fast they go off.”
Natalie Gray, who finished 10th and led the women in this race in 2010, did not compete because of an injury she’s been rehabbing since summer. Franklin said she should be ready for the conference tournament though.
Franklin said his only goal is to get into the NCAA championships, because every team competes against each other and rankings are irrelevant.
“I know the team we have,” Franklin said. “Luckily, unlike other sports, like the BCS where they pick the national champion, those rankings don’t come into play in our world.”
