ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For the first time outdoors this season, the Lobos looked to be in midseason form.
The University of New Mexico track and field team opened its 2015 outdoor campaign with a superb team performance at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational at the Great Friends of UNM Track & Field Stadium.
The Lobos captured titles in six events and numerous personal records Saturday as athletes across the board shined in their first competition since sweeping the Mountain West indoor titles in February.
“It was great,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “We always get concerned that we don’t open soon enough. But we went out there today, competed well and had some really good performances. We weren’t as rusty as I thought we would be.”
Despite the long layoff between competition — just a handful competed at March’s NCAA Indoor Championships or prior to this meet outdoors — the Lobos registered strong results against solid regional competition.
Overall, the Lobos tallied 38 top-10 finishes, including 20 by the women and another 18 by the men. Peter Callahan, Michael Ellis, Logan Pflibsen and Sophie Connor won individual titles, and UNM’s 4×400 meter relay teams swept the event.
“This was one of the better outdoor openers,” Franklin said. “We had some lifetime bests in a lot of places. It was good, solid day.”
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| Peter Callahan |
Leading the charge on a comfortably warm and breezy day was New Mexico’s sprinters and middle-distance runners.
On the men’s side, Callahan won the men’s 800-meter run in 1 minute, 51.18 seconds, while Mark Haywood was second in the men’s 400 with a new personal record of 48.10.
Chris Kline (fifth place, time of 48.72) and Alex Herring (eighth, 49.43) also impressed in the 400, while Matt Bergin (fourth, 3:58.94) paced a bevy of Lobos in the 1500.
Also running the metric mile were Zac Castillo (sixth, 4:01.32), Julian Florez (seventh, 4:02.16) and Jesús Mendoza (eighth, 4:03.35).
Additionally, Mustafa Mudada took second and Cheyne Dorsey placed fifth (54.08) in the 400 hurdles (52.10), and Allan Hamilton stormed to second in the 200 behind an all-time personal best of 21.20.
For the women, Connor replicated the men’s win in the 800, as she won the women’s 800 in 2:09.37. Tamara Armoush was right behind, taking fifth in 2:11.45.
The women’s sprinters and hurdlers also posted strong opening-day marks, with Brittany Myricks (third, 24.24) and Casey Dowling (eighth, 24.74) in the 200; Faith Cobb (fifth, 57.59), Ariel Burch (eighth, 58.14) and Kelsi Lewis (ninth, 59.74) in the 400; and Haley Sanner (sixth, 1:04.19) in the 400 hurdles.
Nicole Roberts fifth-place time of 4:44.69 led three women in the 1500, with Nicola Hood in seventh (4:48.85) and Anna Burton in ninth (4:51.62).
The Lobos’ relays added solid runs, including a battle for bragging rights on the men’s side.
New Mexico’s sprinters, including Mudada, Kline, Haywood and Dorsey took down the upstart middle-distance crew of Elmar Engholm, Ross Matheson, Callahan and Herring in the men’s 4×400 relay, as the sprinters won the sprint relay in 3:13.55.
The men’s middle-distance squad was third, crossing the line in 3:19.97.
The 4×400 relay for the women featured sprinters, with the team of Sanner, Zoe Howell, Cobb and Lewis winning the event in 3:49.21 and the team of Burch, Lucretia Vigil, Christina Clark and Connor taking seventh overall in 4:03.47.
However, New Mexico’s field athletes also posted stellar marks on opening day, with a pair of individual titles for the men.
Pflibsen cleared a personal-record height in the men’s pole vault, as his mark of 17 feet, 4 ½ inches not only won the event but also gave him a piece of fourth in the UNM record books in the vault.
Ellis also tallied a win, unleashing a toss of 200-2 in the javelin throw. UNM received three other top-10 marks in that event, with Beau Clafton (second, 198-2), Marcus Simon (third, 193-5) and Nik Aston (fifth, 181-3).
Elsewhere in the field, Annie Stirling cleared 12-7 ½ in the women’s vault for second place, while Katherine Whiting placed third (11-7 ¾) and Anna Duvall fourth (11-1 ¾).
Dowling added a runner-up showing in the long jump to go with her personal-record in the 200, leaping 19-2. Samantha Bowe was seventh in the long jump (18-7).
Bowe nabbed seventh in the women’s javelin, too, with a toss of 102 even. Kyra Mohns was ninth in the javelin (95-2).
Most of the Lobos horizontal jumpers took the weekend off, but Warrick Campbell took second his speciality, the triple jump, with a leap of 50-5 ¼.
New Mexico returns to action next week with its second and final home meet of the season. The Lobos will invite Air Force, Wyoming and New Mexico State to Albuquerque for the New Mexico Quadrangular on Friday.