Everything is going according to plan for the New Mexico women’s cross country team. 

NCAA champions Weini Kelati and Ednah Kurgat are further along than they were at this point last year, the team added a few promising young runners, and the squad is ranked No. 2 in the nation. 

The last point is especially appealing to head coach Joe Franklin.

“I like two. That means you’re not one,” Franklin said.

The expectations around this team are routine now. 2019 would mark a full decade of top 10-finishes at the national meet. Included in that span are championships in 2015 and 2017 and a runner-up finish in 2018. 

“In 2015...that first month when all the rankings came out wasn’t a lot of fun because we were trying to figure out how to deal with, in our own little small world of cross country, expectation,” Franklin said. “Since ‘15 it’s changed a lot where it doesn’t matter as much, but it’s always nice not to be there (preseason No. 1). Cause it only counts on once race a year.” 

No. 1 or not, this is a team capable of winning the title. Last year, they were one of a handful of teams with a chance of emerging from a crowded women’s field. They ran well that day in Madison but couldn’t stick with a superb Colorado team. 

“In 2018, we didn't get to the line healthy,” Franklin said. “We just didn’t have the depth that we normally have.”

At the front, they ran well. 

Kelati led for the latter portion of the race before getting out-kicked by Colorado’s Dani Jones. Ednah Kurgat, the 2017 champion, took a solid fifth. Kelati hasn’t slowed down since. Indoors she placed second in the 5000m and third in the 3000m. In the outdoor season, Kelati finally got an individual title after she held off a late challenge from Carmela Cardama Baez of Oregon in the final straightaway to win the 10,000m. 

Three weeks after NCAAs, Kelati raced in the Prefontaine Classic 3000m in what turned out to one of the deepest 3000m races in history. Kelati ran a personal best of 8:53.89 but finished 17th out of 18 finishers. Franklin thinks that experience gave her “the realization of what the next level was going to be like.”

“She goes through (1600 meters) in 4:34 and is dead last by about three meters,” Franklin said.  

Until she leaves New Mexico, though, Kelati will continue to be the favorite. Wisconsin’s Alicia Monson was fourth at the NCAA meet and won the indoor title in the 5000m. Taylor Werner of Arkansas took second indoors in the 3000m and was second in the 5000m outdoors. Both will make the race interesting, but Kelati’s spring separated her from the pack. Without Dani Jones, and on a snow-free course, she's the one to beat. 

“This past year, I think she ran the race well. I think the conditions controlled the pace early which was probably beneficial to a lot of others in the field,” Franklin said. “You were forced to run a little more contained.”

While Kelati is rock solid, there are questions about how Kurgat can respond after a dip in 2018. In the spring, she was ninth in the 10,000m. 

Last Christmas, Kurgat went to Kenya to visit family for a little over a month, which set her back in training. But Franklin thinks that she’s in a good spot for this year and is staying with Kelati in their workouts. 

“They could absolutely stick with each other. What I see and what I like the most is the laughter. Which I know sounds trivial but that means we are enjoying the process and were not all balled up in stress,” Franklin said. 

Adva Cohen is the natural choice for New Mexico’s third runner. She was their fourth across the line after Kelati, Kurgat, and the now-graduated Charlotte Prouse in Madison. 

In her first season of Division I after transferring from Iowa Central Community College, Cohen’s placed 43rd. Franklin is confident that a second year in the program will yield improvement for the woman who was fourth at the NCAA Championships in the steeplechase. 

Cohen has an especially busy fall on tap. She will represent Israel in the steeplechase at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar. The late start to the World Championships means it will overlap with the cross country season. The steeplechase preliminary rounds are on September 27 and the final is September 30.

How will they manage her racing when she returns from Doha? Franklin doesn’t have the answer yet (the World Champions/NCAA cross country double doesn’t have much precedent), but he thinks the timing will work out. 

The questions about New Mexico, at least in their current run, have always centered around that back half of their lineup. This year again, there are lots of options and it looks like it will be fourth and fifth runner by committee.

“Aren’t we always like that?” Franklin said. 

Hannah Nuttal was New Mexico’s sixth runner last year, placing 71st. Franklin said she’s fitter in 2019. Alondra Negron, the fifth runner on the 2017 team, is healthy. Sophie Eckel, the Lobos No. 7 last year, returns as well. Freshman Amelia Mazza-Downie from Australia ran 15:59 for 5000m this spring. Olivia O’Keeffe has transferred to New Mexico after running on Washington’s squad at nationals last year.   

Yes, there is uncertainty about who will emerge to round out New Mexico’s scoring five, but that question only arises because the team's top runners are so good. 

Franklin thinks the national championship course plays to his team's strengths. They won’t see the course beforehand, opting for their traditional run-up meets at Notre Dame and Wisconsin. 

But Franklin isn’t concerned. The 2017 team didn’t race the course in Louisville before they won a title there.  

“If you’re fit you are going to run well, and if you’re not fit you’re not going to run well,” Franklin said. “You can’t fake it at NCAA Cross Country.”