The defending champions No. 2-ranked New Mexico women’s cross country team placed fourth among 23 teams, while the youthful men’s squad placed 23rd of 25 on Friday afternoon in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Although the women’s team couldn’t accomplish a three-peat — having won the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite in 2014 and 2015 — it remained competitive with solid top-five performances from Alice Wright (second place) and Calli Thackery (fifth), with times of 16:16.0 and 16:30.9, respectively, in the 5-kilometer race.
Wright’s time was just 4.3 seconds behind individual first-place finisher Anna Rohrer of host Notre Dame.