Lobo Collegiate Invitational — Albuquerque, N.M.
When/Where: Saturday, Albuquerque Convention Center
Live Results: LiveRunningResults.com
The bar keeps getting raised higher and higher. But that’s no problem for the Lobos. They’re used to it at the top.
After sweeping the men’s and women’s indoor conference championships in 2014, New Mexico track and field is preparing for another season filled with high expectations as the Lobos look to duplicate last year’s success.
UNM, which is primed to host another slate of high-level competition this season, has the pieces to capture another year of success at the conference and national level, starting with the Lobo Collegiate Invitational this Saturday in Albuquerque.
“The team is very well-rounded,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “We have people everywhere. We’ve added new kids, we have new kids coming back that didn’t run indoors last year.”
With a roster that mixes youth with experience, the Lobos can make things happen during the season, which includes the Mountain West Championships that UNM will host in February.
But, so early in the season, the Lobos are staying humble about reclaiming the MW crowns.
“We have a shot [to win],” Franklin said. “It’s not unrealistic.”
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| Ridge Jones |
Right now, New Mexico is focused on a regular-season schedule that features top schools from across the nation and potentially making noise at the NCAA Championships in March.
The Lobos, who have claimed All-American nods and some individual national champions since Franklin’s first year in 2008, haven’t sent multiple female athletes to the NCAAs since 2012.
But, for a team that’s used to the top, clearing a high bar shouldn’t be a problem.
THE MEN
The Lobos of 2015 are going to look substantially different from the teams that won the last two Mountain West men’s indoor titles.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t talent.
Despite losing a number of key contributors from last year’s Mountain West “Triple Crown” team — the Lobos won the MW titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track in 2013-14 — UNM still has veteran athletes that can compete.
“On the men’s side, we have people kind of everywhere,” Franklin said.
One of the groups Franklin noted was an experienced sprints squad that features quartermilers Charles Lewis and Mustafa Mudada and 60-meter specialists Ridge Jones and Carlos Wiggins.
The Lobos also add UK imports Allan Hamilton and Scott Bajere into the mix, both of whom add depth to a vaunted short-sprints squad.
“The 60 meters is going to be very solid for us this year,” Franklin said. “… That’s a really good group.”
Not to be outdone is the New Mexico distance crew, which returns two NCAA Indoor qualifiers in Adam Bitchell and Elmar Engholm.
That duo is also joined by All-Mountain West runner Patrick Zacharias, giving the men a strong punch in the distance races.
Yet, the Lobos have even more depth in the distance, with Ross Matheson,
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| Adam Bitchell |
Alex Cornwell, Matt Bergin, Graham Thomas and Donovan Torres. That group, along with Bitchell, Engholm and Zacharias, will be asked to replace the points at the MW meet that UNM lost via graduation.
“It’s time for those guys to score some points,” Franklin said. “That’s why we do it.”
New Mexico will also rely on a skilled group of jumpers, including All-MW performers Warrick Campbell (triple jump), Yannick Roggatz (long jump) and Django Lovett (high jump). Hamilton
(long jump/triple jump) and Markus Miller (high jump) are jumpers also capable of strong marks.
And while UNM is a fairly upperclassman-laden team (there are only 10 true freshmen and three true sophomores), two freshmen, Daniel Lam and Beau Clafton, will take the mantle of combined events for the Lobos.
THE WOMEN
The women, fresh off their first-ever conference title indoors, are primed to hoist the trophy on their home track in February.
UNM adds talented athletes to replace its losses and, with a roster that has another year of experience, is about as deep as it ever has been under Franklin.
“On the women’s side, we have good sprinters, we have good jumpers, we have good distance runners,” Franklin said. “We have people that didn’t compete last year.”
The Lobo sprinters are paced by Haley Sanner, who tore up the track outdoors and can potentially transition that momentum indoors. The 400-meter standout is also backed up by a veteran squad that includes Hannah Riker-Urrutia, Zoe Howell, Lucretia Vigil, Ariel Burch and hurdle/sprinter Holly Van Grinsven.
The short sprints are also deep, with Aasha Marler, Peri Moran, Brittany Myricks and freshman Eyrnn Caldwell.
Marler also headlines a superb jumps squad that features the Jannell Hadnot in the triple jump and pole vaulters Annie Stirling and Katherine Whiting.
But New Mexico’s distance team, which placed third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November, is possibly the deepest group.
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| Sammy Silva |
Sammy Silva and Alice Wright are both cross country All-Americans, and have the supporting cast of Tamara Armoush, Anna Burton, Sophie Connor, Nicola Hood, Emily Hosker-Thornhill, Nicole Roberts, Calli Thackery and Heleene Tambet right behind them.
The Lobos will also look to a talented multi-event group for strong performances, with Samantha Bowe, Kyra Mohns and Casey Dowling.
THE MEETS
Teams that came to the UNM- and Albuquerque-hosted NCAA Championships last year were let in on a little secret. The Albuquerque Convention Center is an unparalleled track and field venue.
Consequently, New Mexico will benefit from a superb schedule that features top-notch teams from around the country.
After competing a small group two weeks ago at the Air Force Open, the Lobos opens their home season with the Lobo Collegiate Invitational on Saturday as they welcome Arizona, Fresno State, Harvad, Texas and UTEP, among others, for an early-season meet.
The following weekend, New Mexico will make its first step toward its postseason goals when it hosts the New Mexico Team Invitational on Jan. 31.
This meet, which will be scored, is a top-notch meet featuring Air Force, Alabama, Arizona State, California, Kansas State, TCU, UCLA, Utah State and UTEP.
This weekend will be the first time the Lobos compete most everyone, and serves as the first litmus test for the team.
At the third of four straight home meets, UNM will host the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 6-7, which again features top teams in BYU, LSU, Texas and Texas Tech.
The final home meet of the season, the Don Kirby Elite Invitational on Feb. 13-14, is the final test for the Lobos prior to the postseason.
“We probably won’t know what type of team we have until Feb. 14,” Franklin said.
This showdown includes Arizona, Auburn, BYU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rice, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah State, UTEP, Virginia and Washington.
That same weekend, the Lobos distance squad will race at the Washington Husky Classic. It’s one of the final chance for UNM’s harriers to qualify to the NCAAs before the team hosts the Mountain West Championships Feb. 26-28.
For the first time since 2012, New Mexico is hosting the Mountain West Championships. But, in the two years since the Lobos last hosted the meet, they won three conference titles — two by the men and one by the women.
Both teams can repeat, Franklin said, but points to, “a couple of teams that could challenge,” noting the Colorado State men and women, the Air Force men and the San Diego State women.
“Luckily for us, it’s a home, which will be nice,” Franklin said. “And it would be really nice to win one at home.”
If all goes well, the Lobos will then aim to take athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships at Randall Tyson Track in Fayetteville, Ark. New Mexico took four athletes to Arkansas the last time the championship was there in 2013.