New Mexico Track & Field Heads to NCAA Championships
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NCAA Indoor Championships
Often lauded for its chromatic brilliance and its connection to the state of New Mexico, turquoise means more for the University of New Mexico track & field team.
It’s a symbol of success and a beacon of identity for the Lobos. But, more to the point, it’s a privilege to sport the turquoise uniform.
A number of New Mexico track & field athletes will don the turquoise this weekend as the Lobos take four individuals and two relay teams to the 2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships this Friday and Saturday in College Station, Texas.
Set to compete at Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium are Ednah Kurgat (3000- and 5000-meter runs), Weini Kelati (3000/5000), Alice Wright (5000) and a distance medley relay team on the women’s side, with Josh Kerr (mile) and a DMR on the men’s side.
“The expectations this week are that everybody who is competing at the NCAA Championships goes out and tries to score and tries to figure out a way to place top eight,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said.
With a top-eight finish in an event, UNM’s eight-ranked women and 18th-ranked men will score points toward the team standings.
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| Ednah Kurgat |
And with one of the largest packs of Lobos ever qualifying to the NCAA Championships, New Mexico will certainly have chances to make history this weekend.
The program’s highest finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships is a fifth-place finish from the men in 1967, while the Lobo women set their best-ever finish of 30th in 2016.
But the Lobos can surpass both of those high-water marks this weekend as they enter the championships with immense firepower.
For the women, they head to College Station with six scoring opportunities between their distance standouts and the DMR. The tandem of Kurgat and Kelati will lead the charge as both take aim in the 3000 and 5000.
“Ednah and Weini have run exceptionally well all year,” Franklin said. “You always like to look at who’s on an upswing, who’s kind of plateaued and who’s going down. And they’re training has indicated they’re in a very good spot.”
Heading in to the meet, Kurgat is seeded second in the 5000 and third in the 3000 with school-record times of 15:19.03 and 8:57.47, respectively. The NCAA individual champion in cross country last fall for the team champion Lobos, Kurgat has eyes on more hardware.
Kelati can also contend as she enters with the fourth-seeded time in the 5000 (15:37.03) and the eighth-seeded time in the 3000 (8:59.77).
Both will face challenges, however, as the field in both events includes some times that are historically unprecedented at the NCAA Championships.
“There are times and distances that will be very competitive with what happened at the World Indoor Championships,” Franklin said. “There are events that are easier to make at Worlds than the NCAAs. Other than some throws and jumps, it’s harder to make the NCAA Championships.”
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| Weini Kelati |
Wright will also look for a good time in the 5000 as she returns to Gilliam Indoor.
The ninth-place finisher in the event at last year’s championships, Wright can nonetheless contribute with her 15th-seeded time of 15:46.85. While only seeded 15th, that time would have scored at every meet over the last decade.
“Alice is in a good spot,” Franklin said. “Training has been going well and she’s run exceptionally well on the outdoor track and has run well indoors, but she’s trying to find a way to score and place top eight.”
New Mexico will also send a DMR to the NCAA Championships for the third time in the last four years. This year, the squad of Kieran Casey, Shalom Keller, Alondra Negrón Texidor and Charlotte Prouse will look to score behind their third-seeded and school-record time of 10:57.77.
“We have a women’s team with four women that have essentially run 4:40 for the mile and that’s pretty good,” Franklin said. “Other teams are going to be doubling and tripling and subbing people off, so scoring is realistic.”
On the men’s side, Kerr is back at the track where he won his first NCAA title. Last season, Kerr surprised the field with his upstart win, which he defended with aplomb at the outdoor championships in June.
This season, as arguably one of the pre-race favorites, Kerr’s primary objective is to enjoy the race.
“The only thing for Josh is to go out and have fun and compete hard in the mile and try to give himself a chance,” Franklin said. “He needs to try to give himself a chance during the last part of a race.”
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| Alice Wright |
A watch list member for The Bowerman award, Kerr enters with the top-seeded time of 3:54.72 that ranks him as the fifth-fastest miler in NCAA history.
Additionally, the Lobo men will run a DMR for the second year in a row. Although Kerr helped the team to the NCAA’s top-seeded time of 9:24.73, he is currently focusing on just the mile.
But the quartet of Michael WIlson, Carlos Salcido, Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen and Ian Crowe-Wright can still contend.
“There are going to be a lot of people that are doubling and we’ll be going into it fresh,” Franklin said. “So we’ll just see what happens.”
The Lobos will compete on Friday starting at 4:35 p.m. MT with the semifinals of the mile, while the 5000 runs at 7:25 p.m. MT and the DMRs back-to-back at 7:45 and 8 p.m. MT.
On Saturday, UNM is slated to compete at 3:10 p.m. MT with the finals of the mile, with the women’s 3000 schedule for 5:25 p.m. MT.
Live results will be available on RecordTiming.com and the meet will be streamed live on ESPN3 on March 9 starting at 4:30 p.m. MT and on March 10 starting at 3 p.m. MT. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 5 p.m. ET Sunday, March 11 on ESPN2.
Fans can follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Twitter and Instagram to keep track of the Lobos!