ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In a league dominated by parity, the Lobos found themselves at the top to open the conference championships.
The University of New Mexico track & field team opened the 2017 Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships Thursday with a trio of tremendous performances from its distance medley relays and multi-event athletes.
Both the Lobo men and women lead their respective championships through the first day of the three-day championships, relying on a record-setting win from the men’s DMR, a runner-up showing from their women’s DMR and a third-place finish in the pentathlon from Kyra Mohns.
But in a on a day where just three events — the pentathlon and the DMRs — went final, the performance from the New Mexico men’s DMR was the highlight.
The quartet of Elmar Engholm, Mark Haywood, Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen and Josh Kerr raced to a school-record time of 9:38.83, which, when converted for altitude, comes in at 9:30.07.
It’s the second-fastest time in MW Championships history, and also ranks sixth in the NCAA this season, well within the cutoff of 12th needed to qualify for next month’s NCAA Championships.
“To run the sixth fastest time in the country and set a school record with three people that are returning, that’s pretty impressive and it was outstanding,” UNM head coach Joe Franklin said.
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| Kyra Mohns |
Besides a few laps during Engholm’s 1200-meter leg, the Lobos led for almost all of the 20-lap event. Engholm took control midway through his opening leg, handing off to Haywood, who extended New Mexico’s lead during his 400-meter leg.
Hansen (running the 800-meter leg) and Kerr (1600 meters) sealed the deal for the Lobos as they won their first DMR title since 2010.
On the women’s side, the relay of Sophie Connor, Larimar Rodriguez, Hannah Riker-Urrutia and Calli Thackery zoomed to a time of 11:29.04, placing second overall.
“The women’s DMR ran great,” Franklin said. “It had some great legs there.”
The squad’s time is the fourth-fastest time in New Mexico history.
Elsewhere, Mohns tallied her first medalling mark in the pentathlon, rallying in the final three events to claim third place.
Mohns opened with a solid time of 9.09 in the 60-meter hurdles, placing fifth, but faltered in the high jump, clearing just 4 feet, 11 ¾ inches.
But she posted three straight personal records to close the event, including in the shot put (third place, mark of 39-4), long jump (third, 18-1 ½) and 800 (fourth, 2:24.87).
“Kyra did a great job,” Franklin said. “She had a blip in the middle in the high jump and came back and got through. The fact that she didn’t cave and quit is very impressive.”
Overall, Mohns finished with a score of 3,660 points, registering the Lobos’ third top-three pentathlon finish in the last six years.
In the only other event of Thursday, Ryan Chase posted a strong open in the men’s heptathlon, which concludes Friday morning.
Through four events of the seven-event heptathlon, Chase sits in second place with 3,028 points. His Thursday effort was bolstered by solid marks in all four events. He was third in the 60 hurdles (7.10), tied for first in the long jump (22-8 ½), second in the shot put (41 ½) and third in the high jump (6-4 ¼).
Colorado State’s Josh Cogdill leads the heptathlon with 3,179 points.
The second day of the MW Championships starts at 10 a.m. MT with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon. Field events start at 12:30 p.m. with the women’s weight throw, while track events commence at 1:30 p.m. with the qualifying round of the men’s mile.
Fans can follow the Lobos on Twitter (@lobo_track) and Instagram (@lobo_xc_tf) for information and updates on the team!