ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In sport dominated by long track meets and long seasons, the Lobos got a treat Friday afternoon.
2 o’clock and a finished track meet.
The University of New Mexico track and field team received a number of winning performances at the four-hour New Mexico Quadrangular as it hosted Air Force, Wyoming and New Mexico State in the four-team meet.
The Lobos claimed 18 event titles and placed top-two in nine different events Friday at the Great Friends of UNM Track & Field Stadium. Now just two weekends into a three-month long outdoor season, New Mexico has picked up progress quickly to start the year.
“It was a very good meet,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “We had some incredible performances at such a low-key meet. … We had lot of improvements, just across the board.”
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| Marcus Simon |
Although the Lobos are just beginning their outdoor campaign, they have started to compile strong credentials for the postseason, which starts in late may.
Peter Callahan and Alex Herring both made strong cases for inclusion to the NCAA West Preliminary Championship, which is the qualifying meet for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
Callahan rallied for a win in the 800-meter run, running a Mountain West-leading time of 1 minute, 48.79 seconds. Herring was right behind, finishing second 1:49.18. Callahan’s time also moved him to fourth in New Mexico history in the event.
But that duo was hardly the only to win on a sunny and generally warm Friday.
Ridge Jones (time of 10.78) and Scott Bajere (10.80) both went 1-2 in the 100, as did Charles Lewis (47.63) and Mark Haywood (48.02) in the 400 and Ross Matheson (4:03.03) and Matt Bergin (4:05.05) in the 1500.
And those tandems were just from the track.
Out in the field, Allan Hamilton and Yannick Roggatz swept the top-two positions in the long jump, Logan Pflibsen (16-8 ¾) and Daniel Lam (14-9) swept the pole vault; Marcus Simon (197-11) and Beau Clafton (191-1) swept the javelin and Lam and Clafton swept the shot put.
Additionally, the Lobo men received strong results in virtually every event.
Mustafa Mudada won the 400 hurdles (53.60) and teamed up with Chris Kline, Cheyne Dorsey and Haywood to win the 4×400 meter relay (3:17.81).
Kline was also fifth in the open 400 (48.87), while Dorsey was third in the 400 hurdles (53.92) and Dominic Davis was eighth in the 200 (23.32). Zac Castillo (4:06.04), Chris Graham (4:11.90) and Tyler Valdez (4:13.05) went 3-4-5 in the metric mile behind Matheson and Bergin.
Elsewhere, Warrick Campbell took second in the triple jump (48-6), and, in the javelin, Michael Ellis (175-1), Nik Aston (171-10) and Nolan Paranto (150-8) placed 3-4-5.
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| Erynn Caldwell |
On the women’s side, New Mexico captured eight event titles, including all sprint-event titles.
Erynn Caldwell won the 100 (11.94), while Brittany Myrick won the 200 (24.48) and Holly Van Grinsven the 400 (55.18).
In the 4×100 relay, Caldwell, Myricks, Peri Moran and Yeshemabet Turner combined to win (46.34), and Van Grinsven ran with Haley Sanner, Zoe Howell and Faith Cobb to win the 4×400 (3:49.61)
Moran was also second in the 100 (12.09), and Cobb was third in the 200 (25.47). Sanner took fourth in the 400 (56.71), while Lucretia Vigil was fourth in both the 100 (12.53) and 200 (25.84) and Kelsi Lewis was sixth in both the 200 (26.49) and the 400 (59.15).
Also contributing event titles were Nicole Roberts in the 1500 (4:43.93), Van Grinsven in the 100 hurdles (13.64, third-best in UNM history) and Annie Stirling in the pole vault (12-2).
Additionally, Howell (fourth place, 2:12.85) and Tamara Armoush (fifth, 2:13.15) both competed in the 800, while Ariel Burch (fifth, 1:04.02) and Christina Clark (seventh, 1:05.92) ran the 400 hurdles. Nicola Hood was third in the 1500 (4:56.39).
In the field events, Turner placed third in the long jump (17-8), and Katherine Whiting was second in the vault (12-2), ahead of Anna Duvall (third, 11-2 ¼).
The duo of Samantha Bowe and Kyra Mohns also shined, as Bowe was third in both the high jump and shot put and Mohns was second in the high jump and fourth in the 100 hurdles.
New Mexico will be back in action next weekend as it splits up to take on a two-day, three-meet road swing in California. The Lobos will compete at the Mt. SAC Relays, the Bryan Clay Invitational and the Beach Invitational.