2016

One of the first signs the 2015 New Mexico women’s cross country season was going to be special was in August, before the 2015 season even started.

That first prominent indication was when FloTrack, a production company geared toward covering track & field and cross country, called UNM head coach Joe Franklin and said it wanted to do a feature on the Lobos, a team that actually hadn’t run yet that season.

But FloTrack wasn’t wrong in wanting to cover these Lobos.

Franklin and his staff had put together a remarkable group of runners that, on paper, looked to be very, very good.

Not only did New Mexico return a handful runners, including Alice Wright and Calli Thackery, from its team that finished third at the NCAA Championships in 2014, but it also added the 2014 European cross country champion in Rhona Auckland, a decorated and talented transfer from UMKC in Courtney Frerichs and a number of other experienced athletes like Molly Renfer, Whitney Thornburg and Natasha Bernal.

To those summer prognosticators, this Lobo squad had potential — like national-title potential.

And that capacity for winning wasn’t lost on the folks at FloTrack. As August waned, FloTrack filmed and interviewed the Lobos, getting footage of practices and coffee trips of a team that was very near to embarking on one of the most dominant seasons in NCAA history.

That season started off with a bang, as New Mexico climbed to No. 1 in the national poll — the first time a female sport at UNM earned such a distinction — before rolling to a second-straight title at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational.

The Lobos then followed that up with a masterful performance at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, obliterating the national-class field behind a meet-record performance. All five of UNM’s scorers finished in the top 10, a feat virtually unthinkable at a meet of this caliber.

By this point, the hype surrounding New Mexico was real. After outclassing their competition at Wisconsin, the Lobos went from possible NCAA favorites to prohibitive NCAA favorite.

But Franklin and his team shut out the noise. Unfazed by their status, the Lobos won an eighth-straight Mountain West title and breezed to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Mountain Regionals, easily securing their spot at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.

When the time came to run at E.P. ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Franklin’s harriers went in with a singular motto: Expect Nothing, Achieve Everything. Despite the all of the momentum New Mexico had accumulated, the expectation was just to run and have fun. If they did that, Franklin wagered, the sky would be the limit.

However, not even the sky could contain the astronomically dominant performance by the Lobos.

New Mexico won its first-ever national title, cruising by the 31-team field as all five of its scorers finished in the top 25 to combine to score 49 points. It was the best team score at the NCAA Championships since 1982, as Frerichs, Wright, Auckland, Thackery and Renfer all earned All-American honors.

At the end day, New Mexico had its second-ever NCAA title in any sport (skiing won the other in 2004), and Franklin was named the national coach of the year.

But it wasn’t really a surprise. Even in August, people knew: The 2015 Lobo cross country season was going to be special.

When the topic of the University of New Mexico Volleyball program comes up in conversation, the name Jeanne Fairchild comes to mind. She played at UNM from 2006 to 2008 and the awards came every year. She had an amazing career at UNM and was first recognized in the Hall of Honor in 2009 where she received the Female of the Year award.

The 6-foot-1 outside hitter was also quite the player in high school where she attended St. Pius X and led her high school team to two state championships. During her senior year she received the American Volleyball Coaches Association All–American award.

Jeanne came to UNM her sophomore year after transferring from San Diego. And in just three years at New Mexico, she finished ranked third all-time in kill and sixth all-time in points. She also notched the fourth-best single-match performance in kills with 30 and ranked third in the nation her senior year in kills per set.

She also logged the the third- and fifth-best single seasons in kills, and the fourth- and seventh-best season for points. If she was here for her freshman year, she probably could have broken all of these records.

The list goes on and on with the amount of awards she received but a few include All Mountain west Academic Team 2006-2008, 2008 All-American, 2008 All-West Region, 2008 Mountain West Player of the Year, State of New Mexico Female Athlete of the Year 2008, and ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District. With her great career at UNM she later pursued professional Volleyball in Puerto Rico and Croatia.

Considered by many as one of, if not the most respected and successful coaches of any sport at UNM, Don Flanagan lead the UNM women’s basketball team on a path to greatness. Flanagan coached 508 games as the UNM head women’s basketball coach, a record unequaled at UNM. He holds the most wins by any coach at New Mexico with 340 and guided the Lobos to 11 consecutive winning seasons – and the achievements don’t stop there. Throughout his time as head coach, the Lobos were invited to 10 consecutive post-season tournaments, including seven trips to the NCAA Tournament. He lead UNM women’s basketball to three regular-season conference championships, six conference tournament championships (five in a row), and 11 consecutive post-season appearances. His teams won at least 20 games in eight consecutive seasons. The NCAA also recognized Flanagan and Lobo women’s basketball as number one in the country in scoring and field goal defense standings. In 2000-2001 the Lobos advanced to the championship game of the WNIT. During the next season (2001-2002), the squad finished with a record of 22-9, advancing to the NCAA Tournament and playing their way to the Sweet Sixteen. In addition, in 2008-2009 the UNM women’s basketball team once again proved itself by making its way to the WNIT quarterfinals. Due to its continued success and the heart of the program, the Lobo season attendance for women’s basketball was consistently among the top 10 in the country. He recruited a significant number of players on the team from the state of New Mexico and was a true and loyal Lobo. Though he was recruited by many “big name” schools, he stayed true to the Lobos and his Albuquerque roots. Flanagan was an outstanding leader who took great pride in his players, fans, and our community both on and off the court.He achieved many individual accomplishments to compliment his team’s success. He was named Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2004-2005 and Russell Athletic WBCA Region 7 Coach of the Year in 2005-2006. In 2007, Flanagan was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame where he received the Award of Distinction and was named Coach of the Year. During the same year, Governor Bill Richardson designated Flanagan as Coach of the Year and recognized him with a “Don Flanagan Day” in the state of New Mexico. The 48th New Mexico House of Representatives even recognized Flanagan on the Floor of the Chamber. Before becoming the winningest head coach in UNM history, Flanagan proved greatness while coaching at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque. While there he compiled a phenomenal record of 401-13, as well as a winning percentage of 97% over 16 years while leading the Eagles to 11 state championships. He was a pillar of UNM and the entire city of Albuquerque.Upon retirement, Flanagan finished with an overall record of 340-168, a winning percentage of 67%. Flanagan’s coaching success turned a lackluster women’s basketball program into an elite program respected nationally. During his time with UNM, he filled the history books and proved exactly what it means to be a Lobo.

During a time when women were just starting to step into the athletic world, one female athlete was already paving her way. Lisa Chiavario represented UNM in the early 1970’s, even before 1974-75 when UNM had a structured women’s track & field team with coaches, scholarships and budgetary allotment available. Athletically, she achieved things far before her time, and it is easy to believe that all these years later, she would still be a huge threat to the conference and the NCAA.

Lisa started her freshman year at the University of New Mexico in 1970 and made an immediate impact. By 1971, Linda Estes (Women’s Director of Athletics) took her and several other female athletes to compete in the DGWS National Track and Field Championships at Eastern Washington University. There, she finished 5th in the 100 yard dash with a time of 11.5, and 2nd in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 6 ¾ inches.  

In 1972, she continued to improve as an athlete, and she represented UNM in the United States Olympic Track & Field Trials in the long jump. Although she made the finals, she did not finish in the top three to make the Olympic team. However, because of her outstanding results at the Olympic Trials, Lisa did represent the USA in a dual meet against Canada in the long jump, and again later that year in Winnipeg, Canada, in the pentathlon.   

In her last season, Lisa once again qualified for the national championship where she first took 3rd in the 200-meter low hurdles with a time of 28.9 seconds. Also in that competition, she took third in the High Jump and fourth in the Long Jump. Over her UNM athletic career, she placed in four different events at the national championship, which even today is almost unheard of.  

Additionally in 1973, she was chosen to represent her country at the annual dual meet against Russia, competing as a pentathlete. Other than the Olympics, this was one of the most important meets at the time.

After graduating from UNM in 1974 with her Bachelor’s Degree in Health Education and a Minor in Biology, Chiavario became a teacher and girls track coach at Cibola High School from 1975-79. From 1979-81 she was the assistant track coach at Sandia High School, and from 1992-2004 she worked as a Health Education Teacher at Eldorado High School and Cross Country and Track official for APS.

Because she had no formal athletic program to compete within, it would be easy for all of her accomplishments to be overlooked. However, it is important for her outstanding achievements prior to the NCAA taking control to be honored and recognized.

Lisa Chiavario will forever be remembered as one of the greatest track and field athletes to set foot on the University of New Mexico campus, the one that made her mark in the UNM history books, and a lobo for life.