Lobos back up new No. 1 ranking with comfortable win at Nuttycombe Invitational
· Yahoo Sports
If any meet in cross-country could equate to a regular season championship — like the NBA Cup for instance — where heavyweight contenders duke it out and give a clearer image of what the title fight will look like, the Nuttycombe Invitational is that race.
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Thirty-nine ranked teams toed the line at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course on Friday in Madison, Wis., and after rising to No. 1 in the USTFCCCA poll last week, the UNM men’s team proved it belonged.
With its scoring five placing within the top 25, the Lobos took first with a stifling 59 points to outpace 20 other ranked squads, including nine that are in the top 15. UNM successfully defended its Nuttycombe title after the men’s team won the meet last season for the first time.
UNM coach Darren Gauson viewed the Wisconsin bout as a chance to probe other teams and get a feel for what the Lobos were up against in November.
"We wanted to see how good Iowa State, BYU and Colorado are," Gauson said. "Six weeks till nationals, it looks like it's us and Colorado are the two best teams in the country."
Though the Buffaloes were able to come away with the individual title — freshman Meshack Kipruto taking the crown — the Lobos bested their Pac-12 counterpart by 34 points.
"Just gotta repeat that in six weeks and hopefully win a national championship," Gauson said.
Meanwhile, the women’s team corralled a fourth place finish despite Pamela Kosgei losing a shoe during the opening kilometers, and without national champ Marion Jepgnetich.
In the men's race, Pasanjo Kitongo showed he was fitting of his recent title of National Athlete of the Week. The freshman, racing in his second cross-country meet, took a narrow second in 22 minutes, 30.8 seconds in a competitive 8K, less than a second behind Kipruto.
"It was going to be interesting how he was going to do in a field of that caliber, but he handled himself well," Gauson said. "He's kind of putting his name in the hat to be one of the favorites to win an individual title."
Kitonga was one of four athletes to cross the line ahead of the course record UNM alum Habtom Samuel set last season (22:33.8).
Evans Kiplagat secured seventh in 22:40.7 with Collins Kiprotich 3 seconds behind him for eighth. Vincent Chirchir gathered 20th in 23:03.0 and Joshua Abraham rounded out the Lobos’ scoring five in 23:08.0 for 22nd. Just 37.3 seconds separated UNM’s first and fifth finishers.
Gauson called it a "privilege" to win Nuttycombe, but the Lobos have their sights on bigger fish.
"They'd trade getting 20th today so we could win the national championship," Gauson said.
On the women’s end, Mercy Kirarei paced UNM in 19:21.8 in the 6K, leading the pack to fourth with 157 points. Kirarei led through the first 4K with Kosgei close behind, but settled into third after Florida’s Judy Chepkoech and Iowa State’s Betty Kipkore caught up with their closing speed.
Kosgei held on to the front pack through the first two-thirds of the race despite sporting a single shoe before finishing 13th in 19:35.3.
Los Alamos graduate Christina Nisoli finished 31st in 20:00.5, and Li-Mari Dekker and Jasmine Wood rounded out the scoring five in 52nd and 58th.
Gauson is confident that when the women's squad is at full strength — including Jepgnetich in the lineup and Kosgei with both shoes — UNM will be a podium team come nationals.
With a three-week break ahead, the Lobos will next kick off the postseason with the Mountain West Championships on Oct. 30 in Reno, Nev. To Gauson, it's just another stepping stone.
"You can't take the conference lightly, but our goal's the national championship," he said. "No one remembers who won Nuttycombe."
