Complete Results | Final Team Scores
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico track & field team tallied strong performances at the 2018 Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships as the men placed fourth overall and the women placed fifth overall to conclude the three-day meet.
Behind a number of individual titles and medalling performances, the Lobos posted a strong team showing at the Albuquerque Convention Center, holding their own during and building toward next month’s NCAA Championships.
The UNM men totaled 96.5 team points at the MW Championships, while the Lobo women combined to score 60.5 points. The Air Force men and UNLV women won the team titles.
“We had a great meet,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “We chose not to double and triple people. That results in the scores, but we hope to go in in two weeks and be in the top 10 of the country on the women’s side and the top 20 on the men’s side and do everything we can to score as many points as possible at the NCAA Championships.”
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| Daniel Lam |
Nonetheless, the Lobos still registered a strong team performance at the MW meet, relying on their standout athletes, as UNM tallied 15 top-three performances over the course of the meet.
Of those top-three finishes, four were event victories, with three by the men and one from the women.
Josh Kerr contributed to two of the men’s event victories, winning the mile after anchoring the men’s distance medley relay to a win on Thursday. Daniel Lam added a win in the pentathlon, while Weini Kelati captured the crown in the women’s 3,000-meter run.
For Kerr, he became the first MW athlete since 2008-09 to win back-to-back mile titles, defending his 2017 win as he clocked a championship-record time of 4 minutes, 0.62 seconds in his victory.
“You’ve got to be better every year, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do,” Kerr said. “Just take big steps every year, but keep fighting.”
That performance was just two days after running the 1600-meter leg in the Lobos’ victorious DMR, as he combined with Ian Crowe-Wright (1200-meter leg), Carlos Salcido (400) and Michael Wilson (800) to set a new UNM record of 9:33.41 that ranks as one of the fastest times in NCAA history.
Already a lock for the NCAA Championships in the mile, Kerr has put himself in position to advance to the meet in DMR with Crowe-Wright, Salcido and Wilson.
The top-16 marks in individual events and the top-12 marks in relays make the NCAAs, which will be March 9-10 in College Station, Texas.
Kelati also likely secured another NCAA bid as she won the 3000 with a championship-record mark of 9:13.40. She moves up to second in UNM history in the event and led two other scorers with Charlotte Prouse (third place, time of 9:47.68) and Alex Buck (eighth, 9:47.68) also scoring.
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| Ada’ora Chigbo |
Ednah Kurgat added a third-place time of 4:46.54 in the mile as Kieran Casey (fourth, 4:50.29) and Alondra Negrón Texidor (eighth, 4:54.31) added scoring marks.
That trio teamed up with Shalom Keller to take second in the women’s distance medley relay, with the quartet running a time of school-record time 11:07.88 that will almost certainly qualify them to the NCAA Championships.
Elsewhere on the track, Sophie Eckel scored in the 5000 (seventh, 17;04.46), while Steffi Jones scored in the 800 (eighth, 2:14.15).
In the field events, Ada’ora Chigbo broke the 39-year-old school record in the high jump with a third-place clearance of 5 feet, 11 ¾ inches, with Shannon Fritz (T-5th, 5-7 ¼) also scoring.
Sarah McKeever moved to second in program history in the pole vault (fourth, 13-2 ½), while Kyra Mohns placed third in the pentathlon via a personal-record tally of 3,807 points.
On the men’s side, the Lobos posted tremendous balance, scoring in a number of events across the board.
Along with Kerr’s mile title and the DMR, Daniel Lam added a win in the heptathlon (5,387 points) to climb to second in program history. Beau Clafton (second, 5339 points) and Camillo Dünninger (seventh, 4786) also scored, moving to third and 10th, respectively, all-time at UNM.
Lam also tied for third in the pole vault (16-2 ¾) hours after finished in the heptathlon, with Jason Atencio taking sixth (15-11).
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| Mark Haywood |
Brent Dionisio chipped in fifth-place clearance of 6-9 in the high jump.
Additionally, Tanner Battikha added a third-place showing in the long jump (23-8 ¼) and an eighth-place showing the triple jump (45-5), where he was joined by Omarei Gregory (sixth, 46-10).
On the track, Mark Haywood claimed runner-up honors in the 400 with a personal-record time of 47.69, with Ben Parmoon (sixth, 48.34) and Isaac Gonzales (seventh, 48.68) also scoring and setting PRs. They teamed up with Bryan Cutler to run a third-place time of 3:15.68 in the 4×400 meter relay.
Salcido and Jay Griffin placed third (21.34) and fourth (21.39), respectively, in the 200, while Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen took sixth in the 800 (1:52.35) and Crowe-Wright scored in the mile (eighth, 4:13.29).
Overall, the Air Force men won with a total of 206.5 points, with Colorado State (141 points) placing second. Utah State (third, 116), New Mexico (fourth, 96.5 points), Boise State (fifth, 55), and Wyoming (41) rounded out the team standings.
UNLV won its first-ever MW indoor title with 99 points, topping Colorado State (second, 85) and Boise State (third, 82). Finished fourth to 11th were San Diego State (fourth, 70), New Mexico (fifth, 60.5), Fresno State (sixth, 59.33), Air Force (seventh, 48), Utah State (eighth, 44.66), Wyoming (ninth, 41), Nevada (10th, 38.5) and San José State (11th, 34).
New Mexico’s indoor season has concluded for most of the team, with a number of Lobos eyeing the NCAA Championships.
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