As if defending a national championship wasn’t big enough, the women’s cross country team heads into the 2016-2017 campaign as the No. 1 team in the nation.
The target on UNM’s back does not intimidate head coach Joe Franklin, he said in a phone interview. The preseason rankings are nothing but a token of respect from what his team was able to accomplish last season.
“The peers and the other coaches think that our team is that good,” Franklin said. “So much can happen throughout the year – people getting sick, people getting injured… In terms of added pressure and expectations, there is none.