BERKELEY, Calif. — It might have been a small pack of Lobos competing, but this weekend still produced some big results.
The University of New Mexico track & field team posted 26 top-10 finishes and a number of season bests at the Brutus Hamilton Challenge on Saturday as it gained experience for the rapidly approaching postseason.
With the Mountain West Outdoor Championships just over two weeks away, the Lobos combined for a solid team performance as it rested a handful of athletes in between two large-scale and intense weekends of track.
Between the exceptionally productive Bryan Clay Invitational last weekend and the UTEP and Payton Jordan invitationals next weekend, some of New Mexico’s top athletes had this weekend off or competed in secondary events.
But the Lobos that competed at breezy Edwards Stadium still posted strong results, moving closer to challenging for key points at the conference meet in Clovis, Calif., on May 11-14.
Leading the charge were New Mexico’s sprinters and hurdlers, including Mark Haywood, who led a bevy of top-10 finishers in the men’s 400-meter run.
Haywood finished in second with a time of 48.46 seconds, just ahead of third-place Isaac Gonzales and his personal-record time of 49.03.
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Multi-event athletes Beau Clafton (eighth place, time of 50.99) and Daniel Lam (10th, 51.29) also posted solid marks as they competed in numerous events.
Carlos Salcido also posted some strong, albeit wind-aided, times in the 100 (11th, 10.87, wind of +2.6) and 200 (fifth, 21.63, +2.7). Although both times were above the NCAA’s allowable mark of +2.0 meters per second, they would have set new collegiate bests for the freshman.
Haywood (seventh, 22.01), Chris Kline (10th, 22.11) and Gonzales (11th, 22.13) also ran in the same wind-aided 200 with Salcido.
The women’s sprints saw Aasha Marler run 12.03 (+3.8 wind) for third place, while Zoe Howell competed in her first open 400, placing 10th in 56.99. Larimar Rodriguez added a season best of her own in the 400, running 57.46 for 11th.
Multi athlete Kyra Mohns and Samantha Bowe also saw some track action during their busy days. Mohns placed 11th (25.97) in the 200 and 13th (15.20) in the 100 hurdles, while Bowe took 12th in both the 200 (26.11) and 100 hurdles (14.74).
The rest of the Lobos’ hurdlers also picked up some solid experience, with Holly Van Grinsven battling to third in the women’s 100 hurdles (14.02, -3.1 wind) and Cheyne Dorsey running to fifth in the men’s 400 hurdles (54.87).
Rounding out the track events was the women’s 4×100 meter relay, which finished third in 46.46.
In the field events, the Lobos earned some solid marks, including Yannick Roggatz taking second place in the long jump with a mark of 23 feet, 7 ½ inches (+2.2 wind).
Additionally, Markus Miller followed up his tremendous performance last weekend in the high jump with a third-place clearance of 6-8, while Joe Kloeppel placed seventh (6-6).
Elsewhere, Jason Atencio placed seventh in the pole vault (14-6 ¼) and Nik Aston also took seventh in the javelin (176-0).
In the women’s pole vault, Katherine Whiting matched her all-time PR with a mark of 12-5 ½ to place fifth, while Annie Stirling posted a season-best of 11-1 ¾ to tie for ninth.
New Mexico’s multi-event athletes also had strong days in the field events.
For the men, both Lam and Clafton competed in the shot put and discus, with Lam placing eighth in the discus (125-3) and ninth in the shot put (41-7) and Clafton taking ninth (120-9) and 10th (39-11 ½), respectively.
Mohns registered a pair of season bests in the long jump (seventh, 17-9 ¾) and high jump (eighth, 5-2 ¼), and Bowe added a mark in the shot put (seventh, 36-11 ½).
The Lobos return to action next weekend as they split up to take on the UTEP Invitational next Saturday in El Paso, Texas, and the Payton Jordan Invitational next Sunday in Stanford, Calif.