ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With two monumental meets on the horizon, New Mexico was looking for progress.
And the Lobos sprinters and jumpers delivered.
The University of New Mexico’s track and field team notched strong performances in the sprints and jumps at the New Mexico Classic as the Lobos geared up in preparation for a run toward the postseason.
With the Don Kirby Elite Invitational next weekend and the Mountain West Indoor Championships in three weeks, New Mexico competed a select number of athletes this weekend at the Albuquerque Convention Center with the goal of gaining experience.
“We had some really positive things happen,” head coach Joe Franklin said. “… They’re making progress, then next week, we’ll gear back up again for the Don Kirby Invite, then two weeks left until conference.”
Zoe Howell led the charge Saturday, becoming the seventh-best Lobo in program history in the 800-meter race in her first indoor race at that distance. Howell finished in 2 minutes, 12.77 seconds to place second overall.
Holly Van Grinsven also added to her experience in her forte, the 60 hurdles. The UNM school record holder in the event placed seventh with a time of 8.49, her fifth career time under 8.51 seconds
The sprints were also a huge source of progress for the Lobos, including strong times in the 60 from Erynn Caldwell (20th place, time of 7.68) and Peri Moran (25th, 7.73) on Saturday.
On Friday, the Lobos’ quartermilers turned in superb performances, running to their best times indoors in Lobo uniforms.
Van Grinsven led the women with personal-record time of 56.62 seconds that earned fifth place in Friday’s unseeded section and is now sixth all-time in the event in New Mexico history.
Right behind was Haley Sanner, who clocked an eighth-place personal-record of 56.72 for seventh best in New Mexico history. Also tallying career bests were Kelsi Lewis (18th, 57.90), Ariel Burch (22nd, 57.99), Faith Cobb (23rd, 58.04), Lucretia Vigil (24th, 58.22) and Christina Clark (43rd, 1:00.34).
On the men’s side, Scott Bajere scooted to a season best in the 60 on Saturday, racing to 10th in UNM history with a time of 6.95.
Charles Lewis raced to a 12th-place time of 48.50 in Saturday’s seeded section of the 400, while Mark Haywood (14th, 48.66). Mustafa Mudada (18th, 48.98), Cheyne Dorsey (22nd, 49.35) and Dominic Davis (42nd, 52.16) claimed PRs in Friday’s unseeded section.
Bajere (22.16) and Lewis (25.85) also set collegiate bests Friday in the men’s and women’s 200s, respectively.
Out in the field events, Aasha Marler just missed her school record in the triple jump, leaping 20 feet, 2 ½ inches to place fourth on Friday. Her school record is 20-5.
Jannell Hadnot tallied an eighth-place leap of 41-2 ½ in the triple jump on Saturday, while Annie cleared at least 12-8 in the pole vault for the third straight week with exactly a 12-8 clearance.
Django Lovett cleared a season-best 7 ¼ to place third in the high jump on Friday, while Yannick Roggatz took eighth in the men’s long jump with a season-best mark of 23-9 ½.
Also on Friday, the Lobos’ multi athletes got their first action in the combined events. Samantha Bowe was fifth in the pentathlon with 3,807 points, while freshman Kyra Mohns was sixth with 3,658 points and Casey Dowling was seventh with 3,518 points. Mohns and Dowling moved to fourth and fifth, respectively, in UNM history in the pentathlon.
The Lobos return to action next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14, as they welcome powerhouses like Arizona, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Virginia, among others, to the the Don Kirby Elite Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.