The University of New Mexico cross country team competed at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational last Friday and earned a top-3 finish for the women and a 26th place performance for the men as several runners saw their first action of the season.
UNM head coach Joe Franklin said prior to the event that Nuttycombe would feature several ranked schools and said the talented men’s and women’s field that would be among the most competitive that will be seen all season.
“The quality of the meet is the closest that you will find to the NCAA Championships,” the head coach said.
New Mexico sophomore Weini Kelati was the top finisher for the Lobos with a time of 19:35.9 and junior runner Ednah Kurgat finished right on her heels at 19:38.8. It was the first time since Kurgat joined the Lobos that she didn’t clock the fastest time on a course she competed on — let alone the best time on her team.
Kurgat took top individual honors in all four races she ran last season, including the 2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. She clocked a time of 19:23.2 at Nuttycombe last year, but it was Wisconsin junior Alicia Monson that was the fastest female runner with the top time this time around — taking first place for the host school clocking in at 19:33.3.
In addition to Kelati and Kurgat finishing 2-3, New Mexico placed a third student-athlete in the top-10 as senior Charlotte Prouse completed the 6k course in 19:55.0 to place seventh out of a total of 230 female runners.
Kelati’s runner-up performance earned Mountain West Cross Country Women's Athlete of the Week, a release said.
But it wasn’t quite enough to win the event this time around. The Lobo women placed third in a field of 33 schools with a score of 130 — finishing behind first place Colorado (80) and Boise State (91) in the lowest score wins format.
In the men’s 8k run, the Lobos turned in a 26th place performance — which coincidentally equaled the squad’s result last year in Wisconsin.
The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks dominated the men’s field, cruising to a 46-point team total and finishing nearly 90 points clear of the next closest school — which was 135 points posted by Wisconsin.
NAU placed four runners in the top-10 and its entire scoring contingent finished in the top-25 to help achieve the low score.
None of the Lobo participants were able to finish inside the top-100 of the field, but most of the scorers ran as a pack and finished within 10 seconds of each other.
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UNM junior Jared Garcia paced the team with a time of 24:29.8 and senior Toby Cooke less than a second later at 24:30.6 as both narrowly missed cracking the century mark. Ian Crow-Wright and Johnny Glen finished 125th and 130th overall, respectively.
The Lobos have another scheduled meet at the same course in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, Oct. 13, though it is still unclear if the coaching staff will sit some runners to save their legs for the Triton Classic Invitational the following weekend.
Mark Jacobson is a freelance sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s and women’s golf, but also contributes content for various other sports. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @aztwoabq.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers basketball and baseball and contributes content for various other sports as well. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Robert_Maler.
