LARAMIE, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming Cross Country teams will head to Albuquerque, N.M., to compete in the 2022 NCAA Mountain Regional on Friday Nov, 11th. The regional will be hosted by the University of New Mexico at the UNM Golf Course at 11AM.
Coming off of fourth place finishes at the 2022 Mountain West Championships from Laramie the Pokes head into the Regional ranked 9th on the women's side and 10th on the men's side in a stacked field. With five ranked teams in both races the Cowboys and Cowgirls will look to compete and improve upon their rankings. The highest ranked team on the men's side is BYU at No. 2 and New Mexico at the two spot on the women's side as well. There are three top five teams going against the Cowboys and three top six teams going against the Cowgirls.
From Head Cross Country Coach Scott Dahlberg, "31 team qualify for nationals from the 9 regions. The Mountain region has 10 women's teams ranked or receiving votes including 5 ranked in the top 10. On the men's side there's 7 ranked or receiving votes including 4 ranked in the top 10. Rankings don't have a direct implication on going to nationals, but it's about the day. Being in such a strong and deep region on both sides definitely demands the best out of a team to place relatively well. To maximize our potential, we have to go in with the right focus to position ourselves within the race so we're competing with the teams we need to be around."
TOP 5 COWBOYS FROM THE MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP (8K)
1 | Jacob White | 23:42.1
2 | Mason Norman | 24:25.3
3 | Albert Steiner | 24:34.6
4 | Seth Bruxvoort | 24:36.7
5 | Gus McIntyre | 25:00.7
TOP 5 COWGIRLS FROM THE MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP (6K)
1 | Katelyn Mitchem | 19:52.5
2 | Leah Christians | 20:37.7
3 | Madelyn Blazo | 20:44.3
4 | Eowyn Dalbec | 21:00.5
5 | Kylie Simshauser | 21:02.0
The regional will start at 11AM.
Live Results | https://rt.trackscoreboard.com/meets/11112210/events
Regional Home Page | https://golobos.com/2022-ncaa-cross-country-albuquerque-regional/
Dahlberg said this about the Cowboys, "The men have yet to put their best race together and we feel they're ready to do that Friday. For them moving up to 10k is something we've been preparing for and excited about based on the workouts they've turned in this season. We're going in ranked 10th in the region but are aiming higher than that. If we can break into the top 7 that would be a good day."
He continued talking about the Cowgirls, "The ladies are competing very well this year. We've been in some close competitions during each race and they have put themselves in great positions to be in those battles. At conference we had some sickness that took away from a few of their normal performances, but we were impressed with how some young athletes really stepped up when they needed to. We're ranked 9th in the region and it's going to be very tight between 7th to 10th place. We're aiming to finish as high as we can within that range. "
Next up for the Cowboys and Cowgirls at the NCAA Regional will be waiting to see who is qualified for the 2022 NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
Stay up to date with Wyoming Cross Country by following @wyo_track on Twitter.
