EL PASO, Texas — At a small meet, the Lobos’ results stood tall.
The University of New Mexico track and field team received a number of standout performances from its sprinters and jumpers at the UTEP Twilight as it closed out its regular season Friday at Kidd Field in El Paso.
The Lobos claimed 26 top-three finishes at the meet, which also featured host UTEP and New Mexico State, and captured some progress as they now turn their attention to the Mountain West Championships in two weeks.
With the Mountain West Championships starting May 13 in San Diego, the Lobos were able to make strides toward their postseason goals.
Both the men and the women are eyeing the MW “Triple Crown” — sweeping the conference titles in cross-country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field — and have designs on qualifying athletes to the NCAA Championships.
And, at UTEP, a handful of Lobos not only moved closer to challenging for key points at the conference meet, but a few athletes also gained some ground on the top 48 in the NCAA West Region’s event rankings.
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| Jannell Hadnot |
The top 48 athletes in each event in the NCAA’s West Region advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Championship, which is the qualifying meet for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
But, within the context of the meet, New Mexico was able to parlay solid performances into events victories, a skill that will prove indispensable for the team at the conference meet.
The field events proved particularly productive for the Lobos on Friday, with six event titles coming from those events.
Annie Stirling led off with a strong performance in the women’s pole vault, clearing 12 feet, 5 ½ inches for the win. Finishing right behind in second and third were Katherine Whiting (clearance of 12-1 ½) and Anna Duvall (11-9 ¾), respectively.
Casey Dowling chipped in a win in the long jump, leaping 19-6 ¾, while Jannell Hadnot emerged victorious in the triple jump with a distance of 41-9 ¾.
The men added some wins, too, with Michael Ellis in the javelin throw (201-5), Django Lovett in the high jump (6-8 ¾) and Logan Pflibsen in the pole vault (16-8 ¾).
However, the rest of the field events combined for some solid results Friday.
Samantha Bowe was second in the long jump (18-11 ¾), ahead of Hadnot (third place, 18-1 ½), Yeshemabet Turner (fourth, 17-6 ¼) and Kyra Mohns (seventh, 16-10 ¾).
Turner was also runner up in the triple jump (38-6).
On the men’s side, the rest of the javelin throwers went 2-3-4, with Marcus Simon (196-1), Beau Clafton (180-5) and Nik Aston (172-0),
Daniel Lam was second in the discus (119-10), while Clafton was third (106-5). Lam also finished sixth in the long jump (21-10).
On the track, Allan Hamilton zoomed to a winning time of 21.14 seconds in the 200-meter dash, leading four other Lobos in the top-10.
Carlos Wiggins placed second (21.69), with Chris Kline fifth (22.17), Mark Haywood sixth (22.44) and Dominic Davis seventh (23.93).
The latter three also competed in the 400, with Haywood’s time of 48.37 meriting sixth place. Kline took eighth (48.89), and Davis was 10th (52.25).
In the 100, Ridge Jones snapped up fourth place in 10.65, while Scott Bajere placed ninth in 10.84.
Hamilton, Jones, Wiggins and Bajere also teamed up in the 4×100 meter relay, finishing second in 40.40.
The hurdlers rounded out the men’s top performers, with Lam placing second in the 110 hurdles (15.74) and Mustafa Mudada (third, 53.26) and Cheyne Dorsey (fifth, 55.01) in the 400 hurdles.
For the women, Holly Van Grinsven ran to second in the 100 hurdles (13.68) and third in the 200 (24.35) to highlight a positive performance by the women’s sprinters and hurdles.
Peri Moran ran 12.05 en route to placing second in the 100, ahead of Erynn Caldwell, who was third (12.14). Brittany Myricks was second in the 200 (24.31), while Casey Dowling (25.25), Kyra Mohns (25.57) and Zoe Howell (25.81) went 8-9-10.
Haley Sanner was third in the 400 with a time of 56.04, while Howell was seventh (57.51) and Faith Cobb ninth (58.21).
Mohns took seventh in the 100 hurdles (15.82), and the 400 hurdles duo of Ariel Burch (1:05.39) and Christina Clark (1:08.16) placed fourth and sixth, respectively.
Caldwell, Myricks, Moran and Sanner combined to place third in the 4×100, finishing in 46.37.
The Lobos will take the next week off to prepare for the MW Championships in San Diego on May 13-16, while UNM’s distance runners compete Saturday at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, Calif. Check back Sunday morning for a recap of the distance runners.