Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – For the first time since 2015, New Mexico cross country teams for both men and women will open the season ranked among the top 25 teams in the country, according to the USTFCCCA Preseason Coaches’ Poll released by the organization on Tuesday.

The UNM men finished at No. 8 — their highest preseason ranking in history and highest weekly ranking since the last poll of the 2010 season — while the women were ranked No. 20 nationally. It also marks the first time since 2015 that both programs were ranked in the top 20 at the same time.

The defending Mountain West champions, the UNM men, made the rankings last season for the first time since 2015, rising as high as 13th in the final poll before finishing 18th as a team at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The individual runner-up was Habtom Samuel, the Mountain Region Male and Female Athlete of the Year.

It is the 11th consecutive season the Lobo women have been ranked in the preseason poll, not counting the 2020 season, which had no preseason rankings – they opened the 2023 season ranked 21st and were ranked at least fourth in the nation in each of the previous seven preseason polls, winning national team titles in 2015 and 2017 over the years.

In the USTFCCCA regional rankings released Monday, UNM men are ranked third in the Mountain Region and the women are ranked fourth.

Next
New Mexico’s men’s and women’s cross country kicks off the season Saturday with the annual rust-buster at the Lori Fitzgerald Open in Las Cruces, NM. Live results are available via GoLobos.com/XCResults. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on X and IG for live coverage, race content and more.