ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The University of New Mexico men's and women's cross country teams will each face their biggest test of the young season on Saturday when they
travel to Stanford, Calif. to take on a large, loaded field at the 29th
annual Stanford Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 28. Seventy-five collegiate
teams (30 men's, 45 women's) and 304 high school squads, for a total of
4,100 runners will be competing throughout the day. The Lobo women toe the
line at the Stanford Golf Course at 4:50 p.m. (PDT) for the start of their
6,000-meter race, which is followed by the men's 8K at 5:15.
The Cardinal men's and women's teams swept the team competition in 2001 and
will be the favorites in both scoring races once again. Returning
All-Americans Louis Luchini and Ian Dobson lead the Stanford men's team,
which is currently ranked No. 1 in the country. Last year the Cardinal
finished second at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, just behind
Colorado. No. 30 Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara (West Region No. 7) will
join the 30th-ranked Lobo men in challenging for the team title. Meanwhile
on the women's side, No. 3 Stanford headlines a stacked field that will
also feature eighth-ranked Duke, No. 12 UCLA and No. 18 Wisconsin. New
Mexico will also battle intrastate rival New Mexico State for the
third-straight time this weekend.
Saturday's meet will be UNM's first journey outside of New Mexico this
season as well as the team's first trip to the West coast since traveling
to Fresno, Calif. for the 1997 Western Athletic Conference Championships.
MEET INFORMATION/RESULTS
Complete information from the 29th Stanford Invitational can be found on
the Stanford University official athletic department website. Team and
individual results will be available at approximately 9 p.m. (MDT).
Stanford Invitational: gostanford.com
LAST TIME (UNM Lobo Invitational)
The University of New Mexico men's and women's cross country teams made a
triumphant return to the UNM North Golf Course with a pair of stellar
performances in their 2002 home-opener, the UNM Lobo Invitational, on Sept.
14. The Lobo men cruised to their second-straight victory, 21 points ahead
of runner-up Air Force, while the women finished a strong second behind the
Falcon women.
New Mexico's men used an outstanding group effort to best the 12-team field
and remain undefeated on the season. The win was also UNM's first over
Mountain West Conference and NCAA Mountain Region rival Air Force under
third-year head coach Matt Henry. The Falcons began the season ranked just
ahead of New Mexico in the national preseason poll, but were picked to
finish fourth, one spot behind the Lobos, in the MWC preseason poll.
Junior Ben Ortega paced the squad early on, running in second for most of
the 8,000-meter race, behind the eventual winner, Ben Payne of Air Force.
Three-fourths into the race sophomore Cameron Clarke led a surging trio of
Lobos, including junior Matthew Gonzales and freshman Jeremy Johnson, up
through the field. Junior Nick Martinez fended off a pair of runners from
UTEP and Air Force to move into the top-10 and join the lead pack. Payne
never faltered down the stretch, going wire-to-wire for a hard-fought
victory (24:01), his second-straight at the UNM Lobo Invitational. However,
New Mexico easily wrapped up the team title with its tremendous group
running as Clarke (24:03), Ortega (24:07), Gonzales (24:07), Johnson
(24:11) finished second through fourth, respectively, with Martinez (24:38)
close behind in seventh. UTEP's Bashar Ibrahim (24:41), the defending
Western Athletic Conference champion, was the only other runner to breakup
the Lobo pack, finishing sixth. UNM junior Sean Flahery (13th - 25:22) and
freshman Brandon Vigil (16th - 25:28) rounded out the Lobos' top-seven.
On the women's side, sophomore Jacquelyne Gallegos led an impressive, gutty
performance by New Mexico, which was without junior Sarah Gonzales, the
2001 Lobo Invitational champion, who was held out due to illness. Gallegos
improved nine spots on finish last fall, running second from start to
finish to complete the 6,000-meter course in 22:45. Rachael Cuellar of New
Mexico State was the wire-to-wire winner, finishing 41 seconds ahead of
Gallegos. However, the Lobos avenged their 10-point loss to the Aggies on
Aug. 30 in the season-opener finishing 66 points ahead of fourth place NMSU
and 17 points better than third place Texas Tech. Air Force placed all five
scoring runners in the top-10 to defeat New Mexico 39-61.
Sophomore Racquel Ricci (23:31) and freshman Janice Tosa (23:31) also
turned in fine performances, running side-by-side to finish 11th and 12th,
respectively, while freshman Karina Hill-Hurtado (23:50) was close behind
in 14th. Junior transfer Amanda Swann (24:12) capped the Lobo scoring with
a 22nd place finish, while sophomore Vanessa Funston (27th - 24:26) and
Timmie Murphy (28th - 24:26) rounded out the UNM top-seven.
"I'm real happy with how we ran today," said Henry. "This was a great,
memorable day for us, but we can't get too pleased with ourselves. We have
to continue to train hard in practice and focus on achieving the higher
goals that we've set for ourselves at the Mountain West Conference meet and
NCAA Regionals. Next we go to Stanford, which will be a very tough meet, so
we have to get right back to work."
GET WELL SOON
Injuries and illness have taken their toll on the young Lobo women's cross
country team this season. Junior Sarah Gonzales was unable to train late in
the summer and missed the first two meets of the season due to a serious
bout of food poisoning. Gonzales, who led the squad in three meets last
fall, will travel to California and make her season-debut at the Stanford
Invitational. However, New Mexico suffered another serious blow on Sept. 21
when sophomore Jacquelyne Gallegos was lost for the season after being
involved in a major automobile accident. Gallegos, who also led the women
in three meets, including the 2001 NCAA Championships, fractured her back
and pelvis in the accident. She had lead the team in both meets this season
and was coming off a career-best second place finish at the UNM Lobo
Invitational. Head coach Matt Henry said he is hopeful the outstanding
sophomore will rehab successfully and could even be able to resume her
promising track career this spring.
MAKING WAVES
After laboring in obscurity for nearly a decade, the Lobo men's team is
beginning to create a buzz once again among national cross country coaches.
New Mexico is currently tied for 30th (with Cal Poly) in the Sept. 24 Mondo
Men's Cross Country Poll with 27 votes and is also No. 6 in the Mountain
Region rankings. UNM received 44 votes to move into a tie (with Michigan)
for 29th place in the Sept. 17 national rankings, the team's first
appearance in top-30 since 1989, when it was ranked as high as 14th in the
country. New Mexico received 11 votes in the preseason coaches poll, it's
first in the national poll since 1993, then was picked to finish third in
the Mountain West Conference coaches poll (20 votes), its highest preseason
poll position since the conference formed in 1999. UNM was picked to finish
last in the MWC, earning just six votes, two years ago.
HAIL TO THE VICTORS
In the five years prior to Matt Henry's arrival as head cross country coach
at New Mexico, the Lobo men's team had notched just one meet victory.
However, since Henry took control of the program in 2000, the men have
captured five team titles. In his debut season, Henry's Lobos captured the
men's race at the (NMSU) Kachina Classic. The following season the team
finished three-points short of perfection with a winning score of 18 in its
season-opener at the Lori Fitzgerald Invitational, then went on to best 10
teams in a victory at the ASU Invitational. This fall the men of New Mexico
have gotten off to good start once again with another dominating win at the
Lori Fitzgerald, followed by a big victory over a 12-team field in their
home-opener, the UNM Lobo Invitational.
LET'S STAY TOGETHER
One of the key factors in the Lobos' early-season success has been the
outstanding teamwork and group running the men and women have displayed in
their first two meets. New Mexico's pack spread, the difference in time
between the team's first and fifth finisher, has dropped significantly,
along with the teams' overall scores. After compiling an average pack
spread of 1:31 last fall, the UNM men's team has closed its average spread
to just one minute through two meets this year, including a mere 45 seconds
in last meet, the UNM Lobo Invitational. Meanwhile, the women have really
stepped up their group running with an efficient average pack spread of
1:25, 38 seconds tighter than last season's 2:03.
ORTEGA CAPTURES FIRST MWC ATHLETE OF THE WEEK AWARD
University of New Mexico junior Ben Ortega earned the first Mountain West
Conference Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week award of the season on
Sept. 3 after leading the Lobo men to a big victory on Aug. 30 at the Lori
Fitzgerald Invitational in Santa Teresa, N.M.
The Taos, N.M. native edged 2001 Western Athletic Conference champion,
Bashar Ibrahim of UTEP, by 2.78 seconds at the finish line to record his
first collegiate cross country victory. Ortega was one of five Lobos to
finish in the top-six as the team posted an impressive 36-point victory
(19-55) over the host Miners and an 87-point margin over rival New Mexico
State (19-106). Ortega's previous best result during the fall was a pair of
fourth place finishes last fall.
The 2001 second-team all-MWC selection was one of three Lobos to
automatically qualify for the NCAA National Cross Country Championships
last fall. Ortega earned the weekly cross country award for the first time
in his career after picking up his first career MWC Men's Track Athlete of
the Week award in April of 2002. Last year, Chris Orrell and junior Matthew
Gonzales became the first two New Mexico athletes in the league's
three-year history to receive the weekly cross country honor.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
New Mexico men's and women's teams will be virtually unchanged next fall
thanks to a 2002 roster void of seniors and dominated by underclassmen. The
women's squad is particularly young with 10 sophomores and true freshmen
and just two juniors. Meanwhile, the men's team is led by a core of six
juniors, but also features five sophomores and true freshmen with several
redshirt freshmen waiting in the wings.
HOMEGROWN LOBOS
The 2002 UNM cross country team is truly a showcase of the best distance
talent in the state of New Mexico. Twenty-two of the 23 athletes on the
team are products of the Land of Enchantment with junior Leighton Katsuda
(Wailuku, Hawai'i) being the lone out-of-state runner on either the men's
or women's roster. Last year, all three 2001 NCAA Cross Country
Championship qualifiers, Jacquelyne Gallegos (Pojoaque, N.M.), Matthew
Gonzales (Santa Fe, N.M.) and Ben Ortega (Taos, N.M.), were native New
Mexicans. Following the tradition of head coach Matt Henry, an
Albuquerque-native and former indoor track All-American, Gonzales went on
to earn All-America honors himself with a 30th place finish at the national
championship meet.
2001 SEASON REVIEW
The Lobos made a triumphant return to the national stage in 2001 when
three athletes (Matthew Gonzales, Ben Ortega and Jacquelyne Gallegos)
automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships, becoming New Mexico's
first national meet qualifiers in four years and the biggest contingent to
compete since 1988. Sophomore Matthew Gonzales (Santa Fe, N.M.) capped the
performance of the young trio of New Mexican runners by finishing 30th to
become the Lobos' first cross country All-American since 1982.
After winning its first meet in 4 years last year, the UNM men's team won
2 meets in 2001, the Lori Fitzgerald Invitational (El Paso, Texas) and the
Arizona State Invitational (Gilbert, Ariz.). The Lobos blasted regional
rivals UTEP and New Mexico State at the Lori Fitzgerald, winning with a
score of 18, just 3 points shy of a perfect score. A month later, UNM
cruised to a 25-pt. victory over regionally ranked UCLA and No. 15 ASU's
"B" team.
New Mexico's ability to run as a team was a key element of the squad's
success this fall. The men's top-3 runners finished an average of 49
seconds apart in the team's 6 meets, while the top-5 were separated by an
average of 1:31, On the women's side, the top-3 runners were separated by
1:12 on average, while the top-5 ran an average of 2:03 apart.
UNM had 3 individual meet winners (Matthew Gonzales, Chris Orrell, Sarah
Gonzales) in 2001 and 13 top-5 finishes. Last season, no Lobo finished
higher than 3rd and there were just 5 top-5 finishers on the men's and
women's sides.
A group of 17 talented newcomers made an immediate impact on both the
men's and women's teams in 2002. On the men's side, 3 of the squad's top-7
runners were newcomers, led by sophomore Matt Gonzales, a transfer from New
Mexico Highlands. Overall 9 newcomers competed for the men's team,
combining for 13 top-25 finishes, including 7 top-10 finishes by Gonzales
and freshman Cameron Clarke. On the women's side, freshman Jacquelyne
Gallegos led a contingent of 8 newcomers, comprising 2/3 of the team. The
new Lobos accounted for 12 top-25 finishes, including 2 top-15 finishes by
Gallegos.
Sophomores Chris Orrell and Matthew Gonzales were each selected Mountain
West Conference Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week in 2001, the first
Lobos ever to receive the weekly honor. Orrell was awarded after winning
the Lori Fitzgerald Invitational, while Gonzales was recognized for his
victory at the ASU Invitational.
Men's fastest 8K last year was a time of 25:40...best 8K this season was
24:19 and 10th-fastest was 25:34...meanwhile, the women ran 5 sub-23:00
6K's this season, compared to 4 last fall
