No. 1 Women’s Cross Country Wins Wisconsin Invite
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MADISON, Wis. — If there was any doubt that the Lobo women deserved their No. 1 ranking, they answered them in record fashion Friday morning.
The New Mexico women's cross country team dominated the seventh-annual Wisconsin adidas Invitational, placing five runners in the top 10 en route to setting a meet record with a 32-point team score.
The top-ranked Lobos handily won their second meet this season, cruising by a championship-caliber field that featured 20 nationally ranked teams and 246 runners. New Mexico also obliterated the previous meet record of 78 points that was set by Duke in 2009.
"They ran really well," New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. "They ran as a team. They were supportive of each other. They did a great job. It was just a very, very, very good performance."
The Lobo men also took 23rd as a team, as both the men and the women wore their special turquoise uniforms on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison.
Behind their simply dominating performance, the Lobo women have effectively secured their place at next month's NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky.
They can still capture an automatic bid at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships Nov. 13 in Albuquerque, but Friday's showing all but locked up an at-large berth for a potential eighth-straight NCAA appearance.
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| Dan Milechman |
The men's team also picked up a couple of wins for their NCAA résumé, knocking off three nationally ranked teams.
New Mexico has qualified both teams to the NCAAs each of the last six years.
Courtney Frerichs led the Lobos women's juggernaut, placing fourth overall in 19 minutes, 39.3 minutes. But she wasn't alone at the finish line, as the rest of the Lobos' scoring pack finished within 17 seconds of Frerichs.
Rhona Auckland was the second Lobo to cross the line, coming in fifth overall in 19:41.1. Calli Thackery finished in sixth with a time of 19:42.7, with Alice Wright in seventh with a clocking of 19:43.8.
Molly Renfer sealed the deal for the women, taking the final scoring spot with a 10th-place finish of 19:55.5.
Renfer, the Lobos' final scorer, finished the women's six-kilometer race in front of 25 teams' top finisher.
Whitney Thornburg took 50th (time of 20:30.1) and Heleene Tambet placed 73rd (20:43.3) to round out the Lobos' contingent.
"It was a great run for everybody across the board," Franklin said. "It was outstanding."
New Mexico still would have won the meet if either Thornburg or Tambet switched with Frerichs. In fact, the Lobos would have won even if their top two runners were replaced by their sixth and seventh finishers.
UNM's final team score of 32 was the best by the Lobos in a regular-season meet since an 18-point performance last September at the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque. Friday's score is also tops by UNM at a meet outside the state of New Mexico since a 31-point score at the 2013 Mountain West Championships at the Air Force Academy.
No. 11 Arkansas took second place with 188 points, 156 points behind the Lobos. No. 17 Virginia was third with 217 points, with No. 12 North Carolina State in fourth (240 points), No. 3 Providence fifth (264) and No. 6 Boise State sixth (275).
Boise State freshman Allie Ostrander won the women's race, with Notre Dame's Molly Seidel second and Arkansas' Dominique Scott third.
On the men's side, Dan Milechman placed 59th over the men's eight-kilometer course to lead the Lobos to a 23rd-place team finish. Milechman covered the course in 24:14.8, ahead of Elmar Engholm (84th place, time of 24:22.4) and Graham Thomas (109th, 24:29.9).
Matt Bergin (120th, 24:32.8) was UNM's No. 4 finisher, with freshman Josh Kerr (139th, 24:41.4) rounding out the Lobos' scoring.
After opening the meet in 30th place through two kilometers, the men chipped into the field of 244 runners as the race wore on. The Lobos were 27th halfway through, moving up four spots over the final four kilometers.
Zac Castillo (210th, 25:21.6) and Jesús Mendoza (213th, 25:25.9) also ran for New Mexico, which finished with a team score of 511 points.
"The men keep getting better and better," Franklin said. "If you asked me three weeks ago if we had a shot, I would have said maybe, 50-50. But we have a shot to a really good by the end of the year. They're going the right direction and they're running hard. We're getting better."
No. 2 Syracuse won the meet with 101 points, with No. 9 BYU (186 points) placing second and No. 8 Michigan (218) placing third.
The Lobos return to action in two weeks, as they look to defend their title streak at the 2015 Mountain West Cross Country Championships in Reno, Nev.
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