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Don Kirby Invitational
All season, the Lobos have welcomed elite athletes and nationally ranked teams to the Duke City for some top-notch track & field.
But this weekend’s collection of talent might just produce the best showdown all year.
The University of New Mexico track & field team hosts a tremendous field of collegiate teams and athletes this Friday and Saturday for the Don Kirby Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
With the championship season on the horizon — the Mountain West Championships are coming to Albuquerque in two weeks — the Lobos are looking to capture strong results in a bid to for postseason position.
“It’s going to be an outstanding competition” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “… So we want to make progress. Get some people slowly climbing the ladder on the conference rankings and get prepared for the conference championships.”
Some Lobos are likely in contention for berth to the NCAA Championships next month in College Station, Texas, but this meet gives all the athletes competing the opportunity to either stake a claim to an NCAA berth or get in position for the conference meet.
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| Sophie Connor |
Although there’s no qualification criteria for the MW Championships, the top 16 athletes (and top 12 relay teams) in the nation qualify to the national championships.
And strong performances this week could potentially translate into postseason-caliber marks down the line.
The men’s and women’s mile runs are two races that the Lobos will look to for fast times. In years past, the mile at this meet has propelled UNM athletes to the NCAA Championships, including 2016 mile All-American Sophie Connor.
Connor, who’s in position to make another national appearance in the mile, will run again this week, with Mackenzie Everett, Kyoko Koyama and Reiley Kelly also running.
For the men, it’s Josh Kerr, Alexander Palm and two-time NCAA mile qualifier Elmar Engholm eyeing a good mark. They’ll be joined by a large group of Lobos, including Emil Danielsson, Jesus Mendoza, Tyler Valdez, Taylor Potter and Chris Graham.
Additionally, the 3000-meter run could be a source of fast times, with Natasha Bernal, Kathryn Fluehr, Kendall Kelly, Ruth Haynes and Samantha Dicker running it on the women’s side, and Graham Thomas, Jacob Simonsen, Jared Garcia, Palm, Mendoza and Valdez on the men’s.
The men’s 800 features Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen, Gavin Sleeter, Adam Monroe, Kerr and Engholm.
Elsewhere on the track, the sprints are competing against an elite field.
For the men, Ben Shield, Parker Jones and Jay Griffin IV are running the 60 and the 200, while Alejandro Goldston, Carlos Salcido and Isaac Gonzales take aim in the 200 and Mark Haywood and Cheyne Dorsey run the 400. Mustafa Mudada is entered in the 600.
The women will turn to Akeisha Ayanniyi, Peri Moran and Erynn Caldwell in the short sprints and Larimar Rodriguez and Hannah Riker-Urrutia in the 400 and 600, respectively.
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| Josh Kerr |
The Lobos’ combined-event athletes, including Ryan Chase, Andris Sturans and Kyra Mohns, are also competing in multiple events with designs on strong marks at the conference meet.
In the field events, the New Mexico men have Nathan Burnett, Jason Atencio and John Harari in the pole vault, Caleb Meyer-Hagen in the high jump and Tanner Battikha, Goldston and Chase in the long jump.
Hadnot (triple jump) and Ayanniyi (long jump) are competing in their fortes, while throwers Amaris Blount and Allison Mady strive for more superb marks in the shot put and weight throw.
The pole vault trio of Katherine Whiting, Anna Duvall and Shannon Fritz (who’s also high jumping) rounds out the Lobos’ contingent.
New Mexico will also take on an exceptionally competitive field, with five top-25 men’s teams and three top-25 women’s teams.
Oregon, with its top-ranked women and second-ranked men, headlines the field, which also features Oklahoma State (No. 19 women, No. 20 men), the No. 10 Colorado State, the No. 13 Stanford men, the No. 19 UTEP men and the No. 24 Harvard women.
“Whenever the Ducks come in, it’s going to be a big competition,” Franklin said. “These teams are trying to get marks to qualify for the NCAA Championships.”
The Lobos, whose women’s squad ranks right outside the top 25 at No. 29, are also welcoming New Mexico Junior College (No. 1 in the NJCAA rankings) and West Texas A&M (No. 4 women and No. 21 men in the NCAA DII rankings) to the Convention Center.
The meet starts Friday at 3:30 p.m. MT, and is followed up Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Check liverunningresults.com throughout the meet for live results and GoLobos.com after the meet Saturday for a full recap.
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| Calli Thackery |
Distance Duo Heads to Washington
Two Lobos are breaking off from the main pack this weekend as Alice Wright and Calli Thackery head to the Husky Classic hosted by the University of Washington.
Both are heading to Seattle solely to qualify to the NCAA Championships, a tactic that has produced NCAA berths for UNM due to the pedigree of the meet’s longer-distance races.
Wright, the NCAA runner-up outdoors in the 10,000, will make her 2017 debut, running the 5K on Friday evening. Thackery, a 2016 All-American in the 3,000-meter run, will look to secure a third-straight bid in the event as she runs in the seeded 3000 Saturday afternoon.
Fans can follow the Lobos on Twitter (@lobo_track) and Instagram (@lobo_xc_tf) for information and updates on the team!