SAN DIEGO — At a windy and rainy meet, the Lobos did their best to shine. But with the entire conference gunning to take down the Lobos, it just wasn’t enough.
The University of New Mexico track and field team tallied strong performances at the 2015 Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships as the women placed second and the men finished third at the meet.
Although the Lobos’ pursuit of the “Triple Crown” — winning the conference titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track — fell short after clearing the first two barriers, New Mexico held its own during the four-day meet atop the SDSU Sports Deck on the campus of San Diego State University.
The New Mexico women totaled 133 points throughout the championship, while the Lobo men combined to tally 145 points. Colorado State won the men’s and women’s team titles.
“I thought we did well,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “I thought we exceeded expectations.”
With Colorado State coming in as the pre-meet favorite and the Lobos lacking some of the scoring punch that propelled them to their indoor title sweep, New Mexico still registered solid results, notching seven individual titles and 18 medaling efforts.
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On the women’s side, Calli Thackery and Jannell Hadnot both won on Saturday, joining Friday titlist Alice Wright. The men received wins from Elmar Engholm, Beau Clafton and two titles from Allan Hamilton.
Alice Wright captured the women’s first individual title, winning the 10,000-meter run in 33 minutes, 18.25 seconds. Calli Thackery won the 1500 on Saturday, crossing the line in 4:29.97, while Jannell Hadnot added a title in the triple jump, leaping a personal-best 42 feet, 4 ¼ inches.
The women, who finished with their fourth runner-up finish in the last five years, were bolstered by a balanced scoring attack, with scoring efforts in a number of events.
Casey Dowling took third in the long jump, leaping 19-3 ½, while Yeshemabet Turner (fourth place, 191 ¼) and Samantha Bowe (seventh, 18-5 ¼) also scored. Turner scored in the long jump (eighth, 39-1 ¼), while Annie Stirling contributed in the pole vault (seventh, 12-8).
The distance events also contributed heavily. Thackery was second (16:08.84), Wright was third (16:12.76) and Heleene Tambet was seventh (16:51.19) in the 5000, while Tambet (fourth, 34:55), Anna Burton (fifth, 35:11.80) and Emily Reese (sixth, 35:14.75) scored in the 10000.
Nicola Hood (third, 10:27.66), Amber Zimmerman (fourth, 10:30.11) and Nicole Roberts (seventh, 10:43.07) posted scoring runs in the 3000 steeplechase, as did Tamara Armoush (third, 4:32.43), Zimmerman (fifth, 4:34.50) and Sophie Connor (sixth, 4:34.57) in the 1500.
Connor (fifth, 2:10.39) and Armoush (sixth, 2:11.06) also scored in the 800.
The sprints and hurdles chipped in a few more points, with Holly Van Grinsven in the 100 hurdles (third, personal record of 13.49) and 400 (third, PR of 54.79) and the relays.
The 4×100 meter relay team of Erynn Caldwell, Brittany Myricks, Peri Moran and Haley Sanner placed fifth in 46.63, while the 4×400 team of Sanner, Zoe Howell, Faith Cobb and Van Grinsven place sixth in 3:47.23.
On the men’s side, Hamilton’s stellar performances highlighted a meet that saw New Mexico score over 100 points for the seventh-consecutive year.
Hamilton swept the long jump (25 ½) and triple jump (50-6 ¾) to post the first sweep of the horizontal jump in MW history since 2009. He was also fourth in the 200 and helped the men’s 4×100 team to second.
Additionally, Engholm won the 3000 steeplechase in a personal-record 8:46.49, while freshman Beau Clafton won the javelin with a PR toss of 203-7.
Like the women, the men relied on a balanced scoring, but couldn’t replicate their success in certain events from their win last year.
Along with Hamilton, Ridge Jones scored in both short sprints, taking fifth in the 100 (1.64) and eighth in the 200 (22.35), while Scott Bajere nabbed third in the 100 (10.61).
The short sprinters combined for second in the 4×100, as Hamilton, Jones, Bajere and Carlos Wiggins finished in 40.78.
In the 400, Charles Lewis placed fifth in 48.52, while Mark Haywood was eighth in 49.22. That pair teamed with Chris Kline and Cheyne Dorsey in the 4×400 to finish fifth with a time of 3:13.26.
Dorsey was also sixth in the 400 hurdles, running 54.64.
Elsewhere on the track, Peter Callahan took third in the 1500 (3:52.96) to lead three scorers, with Engholm (fourth, 3:53.55) and Ross Matheson (seventh, 3:54.94) also scoring, while Matt Bergin scored in both the 5000 (fifth, 14:13.01) and the 10000 (second, 29:52.23). Julian Florez also scored in the 10000 (fifth, 29:57.24), while Herring added a score in the 800 (eighth, 1:53.96).
Out in the field, Yannick Roggatz scored in both the long jump (fifth, 23-7 ¼) and the high jump (6-5), while Django Lovett snapped up second in the high jump (6-11).
Warrick Campbell contributed with a fifth-place finish in the triple jump (48-10 ¾), while Logan Pflibsen took fourth in the pole vault (16-3 ½). Michael Ellis was second in the javelin throw (197-8), ahead of Marcus Simon in sixth (187-5).
In the men’s standings, Colorado State scored 187 points to take the team title, while Air Force (172 points) finished second. Utah State claimed fourth (105 points), Wyoming fifth (99), Boise State sixth (86) and Fresno State seventh (21).
The Colorado State women won the MW crown, registering 167 team points. In third was San Diego State (116 points), followed by Utah State (68) in fourth, UNLV (64) in fifth, Boise State (62) in sixth, Nevada (61) in seventh, Wyoming (52) in eighth, Fresno State (51) in ninth, San Jose State (33) in 10th and Air Force (12) in 11th.
With the conclusion of the conference championships, New Mexico’s outdoor season has ended for most of the team. A handful will travel to the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in Austin, Texas, on May 28-30 as they try their luck at making it to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 10-13.