LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Following a strong season-opening performance, including a team championship on the women's side at the Lori Fitzgerald Memorial Open, NM State returns to the grass for their second meet of the season. On Saturday, the Aggies will head north on I-25 to participate in the Lobo Invitational.
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The Starting Line
- Following a women's team title at the NM State-hosted Lori Fitzgerald Memorial Open, the Aggies head north to compete at the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque on Saturday, Sept. 14. The women's 5k will start at 7:30 a.m., with the men's 5k beginning at approximately 7:55 a.m.
- Last season, the Aggie men took home the team title behind a fourth-place finish from Thomas Croshaw, while the women managed a runner-up finish.
- The Aggies will compete in four regular-season meets ahead of the 2025 CUSA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 1, held in Huntsville, Ala. Following that race, any Aggies who qualify would advance to the NCAA Mountain Regional, hosted by the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on November 14.
- NM State was picked fourth in the CUSA Cross Country Preseason Women's Poll and fifth in the Men's Poll. Middle Tennessee and Liberty represented the top two teams in each poll, with the Flames earning 13 of a possible 22 first-place votes across both polls.
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Fresh Faces
- The Aggies welcome nine new members of the cross country teams, with a wealth of accolades and talent between them.
- NM State landed five transfers in Omer Ibrahim (Tarleton), Quenton Metz (Mesa CC), Adéla Steinsová (Purdue), Eloïse Stuart (Miami [FL]) and Nick Valle (Mesa CC).
- Along with the transfers, the Crimson & White added four freshman in the recruiting class – Abigail Beam, Ainsleigh Kasprick, Brooke Kelly and Kobe Rodriguez.
- Beam (Rio Rancho), Kelly (Albuquerque), and Rodriguez (Las Cruces) join from the Land of Enchantment, while Omer Ibrahim makes a return to the Borderland, competing at nearby Pebble Hills High School from 2020-2024.
CUSA Check-In
- As conference realignment continues to rattle collegiate athletics, Conference USA welcomes a pair of new members ahead of the 2025-26 season, with Delaware and Missouri State joining the existing ten member programs. Delaware joins from the Coastal Athletic Association, while Missouri State departs from the Missouri Valley Conference.
- In the recently released Conference USA Preseason Poll, Delaware was picked sixth with Missouri State selected eighth overall (neither program has a men's cross country program).
- Last season, Liberty swept both the men's and women's Conference USA Cross Country Championships, claiming their first conference championships as members of CUSA.Â
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One Year Ago… | Lobo Invitational | 9.14.24
- Running in the meet for the first time since 2019, the Aggies put together a strong performance, led by sophomore Thomas Croshaw (14:51.97) en route to a team title.
- Arizona transfer Andrew Gibby made it a pair of Aggies in the top-five, crossing the line with a time of 15:17.91.
- Khloi Bird put together her best performance at NM State, taking sixth overall and crossing the line with a time of 18:37.23. Marlene Mosqueda made it two Aggies in the top-ten, taking ninth after posting a time of 19:02.80 – her first cross country top-ten finish.
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