In 2013, New Mexico men’s track & field won the Mountain West indoor title. In 2014, they did it again, followed by a third in 2015.
And, as the 2016 indoor season dawns, the expectation in Albuquerque is the same: Let’s win a conference title.
With a fourth straight conference championship in its sights, New Mexico men’s track & field is aiming for another strong indoor campaign in 2016, and will rely on its talent in the sprints and the jumps for success at the MW and NCAA level.
The culture and the skill is in place for the Lobos to continue their reign during the indoor season, which starts next Friday, January 22 with the Cherry & Silver Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
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| Yannick Roggatz |
“We’re going to have a good shot at the indoor title,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “Everyone will have every opportunity to run fast, jump far, jump high and get better.”
The Lobos are counting on everyone coming together when they host the Mountain West Championships in late February. The biggest competition, Colorado State and Air Force, have depth in most every position, so the Lobos will need to continue developing its talent to win.
It’s part of the winning culture Franklin’s installed at UNM, and it’s paid off for the last three years.
“You may not see people every weekend competing, but they know at the end of February, everyone will come together and wear cherry and silver with pride.”
And with the development of a championship-caliber team, the Lobos hope to produce some NCAA-worthy performances. Allan Hamilton, Elmar Engholm and Ridge Jones all made the national championships in 2015, and the expectation is to do it again.
“You have some super high-level individuals on the men’s team,” Franklin said. “All those guys can get to the NCAA Championships.”
SPRINTS, HURDLES & RELAYS
The short sprints are just a fraction of the events run at a championship meet, but, for the Lobos, this group will make up a lot of their points.
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| Ridge Jones |
Jones, the 2015 MW champion in the 60-meter dash, had a breakout season in 2015. He set the UNM record in both the 60 and 200, and became the first Lobo to make the NCAA Indoor Championships in a short sprint.
He’s run 6.62 in the 60 and 21.43 in the 200, and can challenge for substantial points at the conference meet.
Elsewhere in the short sprints, Scott Bajere (6.82 in the 60/21.75 in the 200) and Hamilton (6.80/21.14) both return after scoring in the 60 at the 2015 MW championships. Hamilton also came alive in the 200 during the outdoor campaign.
Freshmen Carlos Salcido (10.63 in the 100/21.34 in the 200) and Josh Burbank (10.71/21.61) have exceptionally fast times from high school, and both could potentially score as freshmen.
“That group is extremely powerful for us,” Franklin said. “They’ll score a lot of points.”
New Mexico quartermilers are also in the conversation for points at the conference championships. Sophomore Mark Haywood (personal-record of 48.58) scored last year, and Chris Kline (PR of 47.50 outdoors) returns after redshirting last winter. Mustafa Mudada (49.09) is also back.
MIDDLE DISTANCE & DISTANCE
This group is the key to a conference title. The Lobos will score points in bunches in the sprints and jumps, but they’ll need points in the distance events for a win.
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| Graham Thomas |
Last year, it was a pair of wins in the 3000 and 5000 by Adam Bitchell and a win in the mile by Engholm that propelled the men to their third conference title. While Engholm is back, Bitchell and his running mate Patrick Zacharias (fourth in both the 3K and 5K) have both graduated.
“We have to get some points out of the middle distance and the long distance,” Franklin said. “Last year we scored well with Adam and Pat, but they’ve graduated. We have to score something there to have a shot.”
Engholm, a two-time NCAA qualifier in the mile, is among the athletes in contention for both a MW title and an NCAA berth in the mile. He’s run 3:58 in the mile and 1:50 in the 800.
Graham Thomas is the only other Lobos returning who scored in 2015. He was fifth in the mile last year, and has run 4:04 in the mile and 8:15 in the 3000.
Josh Kerr, a true freshman, can also contribute and has run 1:51 in the 800 and 3:44 in the 1500. Harvard transfers Adam Cotton (3:41 in the 1500, 4:01 in the mile) and Dan Milechman are also potential scorers for the Lobos (14:19 in the 5000).
Matt Bergin has the talent to score in the 5000, running 13:54 outdoors last season. He was second in the 10K outdoors, as well, and could help give balance to the men’s distance crew.
Zac Castillo (8:17.30 in the 3000) is another possible contributor for the men.
JUMPS & MULTIS
Although New Mexico’s distance runners have long been the banner carriers at the conference championships, the last couple of seasons have featured the jumps team as valuable contributors.
Over the last three seasons, the men’s jumpers have notched 15 all-conference plaudits, including nine individual titles. And it wasn’t the same four athletes racking up the honors, but rather generations of athletes that have succeeded.
“That group has always scored a lot of points for us,” Franklin said.
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| Markus Miller |
Hamilton was the most recent, as he won the long jump and placed third in the triple jump last year. The sixth-place finisher in the long jump at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships, Hamilton (PR of 25-4 /7.74 indoors) won the long jump at the 2015 MW meet by nearly a foot.
Right behind him, however, was teammate Yannick Roggatz, who looked like he turned a corner during the outdoor season last May. Roggatz, who broke 25 feet last May, took second, and has a chance to win it on his own this year.
Sam Trigg is the newest face in the triple jump, and come to Albuquerque with a personal-record leap of 51-7 (15.74).
The high jump features senior Markus Miller, who’s jumped 6-8 (2.05) and newcomer Joe Kloeppel, who cleared 6-10 in high school.
True freshmen Jason Atencio and John Harari are the Lobos’ two pole vaulters, tasked with replacing the consistent Logan Pflibsen. Atencio, an Albuquerque native, cleared 15-6 (4.72) as a senior in high school.
Rounding out the Lobos’ field events are the combined-event athletes, including sophomores Daniel Lam, Beau Clafton and Andris Sturans and freshman Ryan Chase.
A youthful group, all four have the potential to score. Lam was fourth in the heptathlon in 2015, while Sturans was eighth. Chase was fourth in the decathlon at the USATF Junior National Outdoor T&F Championships.