Complete USTFCCCA Release
NEW ORLEANS - After a great weekend on the trails, the NM State women's cross country team has started to turn some heads in its region.
Monday, the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released its most up-to-date list of the NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Regional Rankings, and the Aggies broke into the list for the first time in 2021.
NM State is currently ranked 13th in the Mountain Region, making the Aggies one of four WAC women's cross country squads currently occupying spots in three different regional rankings.
Also ranked in the Mountain Region is Utah Valley (ninth) while Abilene Christian (second) and California Baptist (ninth) appear in the South Central Region and West Region rankings respectively.
With Monday's news, the NM State women's cross country team is ranked in the Mountain Region for the first time since early in the 2019 season.
The Aggies recently wrapped up their third regular-season meet of the year, finishing third as a team at the Highlander Invitational in Riverside, Calif., last Saturday morning. With their third-place finish, NM State bested each of the other four WAC cross country teams in attendance at the meet as well as Pac-12 foe USC (12th). NM State bested other teams who are regionally ranked this week which include California Baptist (seventh at Highlander Invitational, ninth in West Region) and UCLA (DNF at Highlander Invitational, 14th in West Region).
Individually, Emily Stutesman was the Aggies' top finisher at the event, putting forth a personal-best 6K time of 21:01.9 to finish 12th. Maggie Gibbs (17th, 21:11.1), Richelle Sandin (19th, 21:19.3) and Thobile Amon (21st, 21:25.8) all finished among the top 25 to help the Aggies post a third-place finish at the event.
In a little less than two weeks, the Aggies will return to Riverside, Calif., to compete at the 2021 WAC Cross Country Championships. The meet is set to take place on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the UC Riverside Ag Ops Course.
For complete coverage of NM State women's cross country, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics - and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Track/XC), Twitter (@NMStateXCTF) and Instagram (@NMStateXCTF).
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