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New Mexico Classic & Multis
As the calendar turns to February, the Lobos are turning their eyes toward the future. With the championship season quickly approaching, making big marks then starts with small steps now.
The University of New Mexico track & field team is looking for experience and improvement at the New Mexico Classic & Multis this Friday and Saturday as it hosts a strong field at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
The Lobos, who are in between two of their more competitive meets of the season, are aiming to become stronger for its upcoming competitions as it takes on their third of four straight home meets.
“A lot of people will either be in off events this weekend,” 10th-year New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “… We need a chance to train a little bit before the Don Kirby Invitational [next week]. This is more of a tuneup week, a rest week and a training week.”
With the exceptionally competitive Don Kirby Invite next week and Mountain West Indoor Championships — which are also in Albuquerque — just three weeks away, the Lobos are looking to parlay their home-track advantage and excellent competition into gains.
And this meet, with its remarkably talented field, provides the Lobos a number of opportunities to pick up some key experience.
While a number of UNM’s distance runners will take a week to recover after the New Mexico Team Invitational last Saturday, the Lobos are eyeing some progress for their sprinters, jumpers and throwers.
On the women’s side, No. 25 New Mexico will look to its talented jumps squad for some strong marks this weekend.
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| Amaris Blount |
Jannell Hadnot, who has contributed to the Lobos’ third top-25 ranking in as many years, is taking aim in the triple jump, where she’s currently ranked 13th in the NCAA. Akeisha Ayanniyi (long jump) and the pole vault crew of Katherine Whiting, Shannon Fritz and Anna Duvall are also vying for experience.
Throwers Amaris Blount (weight throw) and Allison Mady (weight throw, shot put) have also shown solid progress to open the season and will get another chance this weekend to improve their standing.
On the track, the emphasis will largely be on the sprints, with Ayanniyi, Peri Moran and Erynn Caldwell entered in both the 60- and 200-meter dashes.
Larimar Rodriguez, Abigail Smith and Kyra Mohns are also entered in the 400, with Hannah Riker-Urrutia and Kyoko Koyama in the 800.
The Lobos will also compete a handful of athletes in the mile, with Kendall Kelly, Ruth Haynes, Mackenzie Everett, Samantha Dicker and Koyama slated to compete.
Mohns, who is competing in her first pentathlon of the year this week, will also run the open 60 and open 400.
The Lobo men are also competing mostly just their sprinters and jumpers, with the team’s distance standouts taking a week off to train.
In the sprints, Mark Haywood leads a group in the 400, along with Cheyne Dorsey, Carlos Salcido and Isaac Gonzales. That group will also combine to run the 4×400.
Salcido is also competing in the 200, pulling a double along with Ben Shield, Parker Jones and Jay Griffin IV, who are all running the 60 and 200. Jones is also running the 60 hurdles.
A couple of the Lobos multi-event athlete will also pull double-duty on the track, as Andris Sturans runs in the 60 and 400 dashes and Ryan Chase takes on the 60 hurdles and 400 dash. On top of that, Sturans is entered in the long jump and Chase in the high jump.
Additionally, Elmar Engholm, Taylor Potter and Chris Graham are all entered in the 800, with Mustafa Mudada in the 600, Tyler Valdez and Adam Monroe in the mile and Jared Garcia in the 3000.
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| Mark Haywood |
The field events will see the same group of athletes as they strive for some improvement.
Tanner Battikha and Alejandro Goldston are both entered in the long jump (and the 200), while the trio of Nathan Burnett, Jason Atencio and John Harari are taking on the pole vault. Caleb Meyer-Hagen rounds out the group as he competes in the high jump.
As usual, the Lobos will also get a chance to take on a superb collection of teams at home.
On the men’s side, No. 3 LSU, No. 5 USC, No. 14 Texas Tech and No. 16 Texas are all sending athletes to Albuquerque this weekend, while the women’s side features No. 4 USC, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 LSU and No. 15 Ole Miss taking on the 25th-ranked Lobo women.
Four teams ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA Division II rankings (CSU Pueblo’s No. 3 men and No. 12 women; Angelo State’s No. 12 men; and New Mexico Highland’s No. 24 women) also join the top-ranked junior college women’s team, New Mexico Junior College, at the Convention Center.
The meet starts Friday morning with the women’s pentathlon, with the rest of the meet scheduled to start at 4 p.m. On Saturday, the field events kick off a 10 a.m. and track events at 11:30 a.m.
Check liverunningresults.com throughout the meet for live results and GoLobos.com after the meet Saturday for a full recap.
Fans can follow the Lobos on Twitter (@lobo_track) and Instagram (@lobo_xc_tf) for information and updates on the team!