Brutus Hamilton Challenge — Berkeley, Calif.
When: Saturday, April 23
Where: Edwards Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.
Live Results: RecordTiming.com
Meet Notes | Entries | Schedule | Live Results
In between two big weekends of track, the Lobos are scaling things down in their quest for progress.
But for a program riding some big momentum, it’s just another step toward its postseason goals.
With just a couple of meets remaining in the regular season, the University of New Mexico track & field team is aiming for postseason position and continued experience as it competes at the Brutus Hamilton Challenge this weekend.
Although a number of athletes are off this weekend or competing in secondary events, the Lobos are continuing to search for progress and improvement en route to the postseason, which starts with the Mountain West Championships on May 11-14 in Clovis, Calif.
To accomplish those goals, New Mexico is heading to Edwards Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., as it takes on a strong field that features Cal, Utah State and UTEP.
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It’s a bit of a change of pace from last weekend, where the Lobos competed at the nationally prominent Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif., and it’ll be different than next weekend, when UNM splits up and heads to UTEP and Stanford.
This weekend’s meet looks to provide a number of athletes a chance to improve, whether that opportunity comes in their main event or an off event. Any improvement now will likely pay dividends in the coming weeks as UNM preps for the postseason.
Right after the MW Championships, the top 48 athletes in each event in the NCAA’s West Region advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Championship. From there, athletes can qualify to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
Spearheading New Mexico’s efforts this weekend will be the sprinters and hurdles.
On the women’s side, four Lobos — Haley Sanner, Larimar Rodriguez, Zoe Howell and Hannah Riker-Urrutia — will run the 400-meter dash, while Aasha Marler runs the 100 and Holly Van Grinsven the 100 hurdles.
Sanner, Van Grinsven, Marler and Jannell Hadnot are also entered in the 4×100 meter relay, with Sanner, Howell, Rodriguez and Van Grinsven in the 4×400 relay.
Samantha Bowe and Kyra Mohns, both hot off strong performances in the heptathlon last weekend, will continue their multi-event escapades as both compete in the 100 hurdles, 200 and long jump. They’ll also take on one extra event on their own, with Mohns in the high jump and Bowe in the shot put.
The only other field event in which the Lobo women will be competing in the pole vault, where Katherine Whiting and Annie Stirling look to build on productive outings.
For the men, Mark Haywood, Chris Kline and Isaac Gonzales will all be in the 400, with Cheyne Dorsey and Mustafa Mudada in the 400 hurdles.
Dorsey Kline, Gonzales and Haywood will also run the 4×400 relay together.
Carlos Salcido is the only short sprinter in action this weekend, and he’ll be striving for continued improvement in the 100 and 200 after solid marks last week.
Multi-athletes Daniel Lam and Beau Clafton will also be doing multiple events, competing in the shot put, long jump, discus and 400. Clafton will also run the 110 hurdles and Lam will participate in the pole vault. .
In the field events, Markus Miller and Joe Kloeppel are vying for big marks in the high jump, while Jason Atencio is eying improvement in the pole vault. Yannick Roggatz (long jump) and Nik Aston (javelin) round out the Lobos’ competitors.
The Lobo women enter as the 19th-ranked team in the latest National Team Computer Rankings released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Monday. The Lobo men jumped up 11 spots to 61st.
The bulk of the meet starts Saturday at 11 a.m. MT. Check RecordTiming.com throughout the meet for live results and GoLobos.com after the meet for a full recap.