MEET RECAP: Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA — Billed as the biggest race of the weekend in NCAA Division I Cross Country, the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational certainly lived up to that standard — and then some.

No. 1 Providence firmly establish itself as the women’s team to beat so far in 2016 as defending national champion and formerly top-ranked No. 2 New Mexico struggled in its season opener.

The script was completely thrown out the window in the men’s race, as No. 20 Mississippi surged late to take out a fast-starting No. 18 UTEP — the defending meet champs. Meanwhile, the meet’s top-ranked team, No. 9 Eastern Kentucky, struggled in its first big test of the season.

For full recaps on both of the races, check out the recaps below.

RESULTS: MEN | WOMEN

Top-Ranked Providence Women Shine; Rohrer Defends Home Turf

A heavyweight fight headlined the women’s race as No. 1 Providence squared off against No. 2 New Mexico. The Friars overtook the Lady Lobos at the top of the National Coaches’ Poll on Tuesday and Ray Treacy’s team was eager to prove it belonged there.

Team Standings

#1 Providence – 117

#5 NC State – 149

RV E. Michgian – 159

#2 New Mexico – 166

NR Baylor – 169

#28 Utah – 171

RV Mississippi – 187

#16 Notre Dame – 208

RV California – 219

RV Minnesota – 285

Mission accomplished.

Running short-handed with two All-Americans from last year on the sideline (Samantha Jones and Catarina Rocha), Providence made it look easy. The Friars rolled to a 117-149 win over No. 5 NC State and RV Eastern Michigan. New Mexico finished fourth. Providence’s victory was never in jeopardy as it led from the first mile onward.

Notre Dame’s Anna Rohrer defended her home turf and picked up the individual win by nearly five seconds over New Mexico’s Alice Wright (16:11.7 to 16:16.0).

California’s Bethan Knights finished third (16:21.8), followed by Baylor’s Maggie Montoya (16:28.4) in fourth and New Mexico’s Calli Thackery in fifth (16:30.9).

You have to keep looking down to find the Friars’ top runner (Sarah Collins, 9th), but the top-ranked team was just that — a team. Providence packed up behind Collins as its runners finished 24th (Millie Paladino), 26th (Brianna Ilarda), 28th (Abbey Wheeler) and 30th (Katie Lembo). Lauren Mullins had an off day and placed 70th.

Depth issues hurt the Lady Lobos. Wright and Thackery were second and fifth, but New Mexico’s next three finishers were 37th, 60th and 62nd.

Other runners in the top-10 other than those already mentioned were Clemson’s Grace Barnett (6th), Eastern Michigan’s Jordan McDermitt (7th), NC State’s Erika Kemp (8th) and Boston College’s Isabelle Kennedy (10th).

Tobin, Erb Lead Ole Miss Men To Breakthrough Win

There’s just something about the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational that propels unproven teams to making it their breakthrough performance.

Team Standings

#20 Mississippi – 83

#18 UTEP – 99

#9 E. Kentucky – 168

RV Providence – 182

RV Illinois – 183

RV Southern Utah – 187

#24 Washington St. – 189

NR California – 216

NR Air Force – 242

NR Bradley – 268

#23 NC State – 271

#30 Texas – 322 (13th)

#30 Florida St. – 398 (15th)

Such was the case last year with UTEP and then again this year with Mississippi.

The 20th-ranked Rebels, led by Sean Tobin’s individual win, came from behind to win the team title over 18th-ranked UTEP, 83-99. Ninth-ranked Eastern Kentucky finished third with 168 points, RV Providence took fourth (182) and RV Illinois fifth (183).

No one could keep up with Tobin in the last one-third of the race. He pulled away between 5K and 7K and opened up a four-second lead over Alabama’s Antibahs Kosgei at the latter split. Kosegi faded to sixth and it was NC State’s George Parsons who was the biggest threat to Tobin’s victory, but alas it went for naught as the Ole Miss runner won by three seconds (23:31.9 to 23:34.9).

Behind Tobin and Parsons were California’s Robert Brandt, Mississippi’s MJ Erb, UTEP’s Jonah Koech, Kosegi, UTEP’s Antony Kosgei, Washington State’s Josh Whelan, California’s Trent Brendel and Eastern Kentucky’s Amos Kosgey.

The lynchpin of the Rebels’ success on Friday afternoon was Robert Domanic. His 14th-place finish gave Ole Miss a 19-30 lead through three runners. UTEP’s Cosmas Boit was 18th, six seconds behind Domanic.

Early on it appeared as if the Miners would cruise as they led the Rebels 48-105 after 4K. Then UTEP saw its lead slip to 57-104 at 5K and finally Ole Miss pulled ahead at 7K.

Eastern Kentucky was never a factor in the team standings despite having two runners in the top-3 at 4K (Erick Rotich, 2nd; Kosgey, 3rd).