ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico track & field team continued its bids for titles during the second day of the Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Alice Wright won the women’s 5,000-meter run to power the Lobo women to the lead in the women’s standings, while the UNM men currently sit in third place on the men’s side after earning three top-three finishes Friday.
Through Friday, the second day of the three-day championships, the New Mexico women have scored 35.5 team points, with the men scoring 34 points.
“We did really well today,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “… Just a good day, it was a lot of fun.”
With most of the day’s events holding just preliminary rounds heading into Saturday’s finals, the Lobos performed well in the handful of events that did go final on Friday.
For the women, Wright’s title led the way, as the redshirt junior won the 5,000 in a new personal-record time of 16 minutes, 22.94 seconds. She also broke her own meet record in the process, topping her previous best of 16:31.85 set in a win at the 2015 MW Championships.
“I’m not going to say it was easy,” Wright said. “My stomach got a little rough and, after five laps, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I had my whole team cheering me on and my coach telling me my splits. That just kept me really really focused.”
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| Amaris Blount |
Her time, when converted for altitude, comes in at 15:56.95, which is good for second all-time in New Mexico history.
It also ranks 15th in the NCAA as of Friday morning, right within the cutoff of 16th to make next month’s NCAA Championships.
“I think I’m ranked 15th [in nationals], which is is three more [spots] than what I was ranked before,” Wright said. “… I know that I did everything I could today and that’s all I can ask for.”
Natasha Bernal also scored in the 5,000, running to seventh place in 17:03.38.
Additionally, the Lobos notched scoring marks in the three field events that were final, including a superb showing in the weight throw from Amaris Blount.
Blount continued to shine in her speciality, taking third place with a school- and personal-record toss of 63 feet, 6 ¾ inches. She is the first New Mexico athlete to place top-three in the weight throw since Amanda Barnes placed top three with the previous UNM best of 60-10 ¾ in 2005.
“Today was definitely a personal best,” Blount said. “It was a big PR for me. The week before last I didn’t do all that well, and for me to just practice really hard and come back to break the school record by three feet really helped me.”
Jannell Hadnot, an elite triple jumper, also chipped in a seventh-place finish in the long jump (mark of 19 feet), while Katherine Whiting added a seventh-place tie in the pole vault (12-9 ½).
On the men’s side, New Mexico received solid marks in Friday’s finals, with three Lobos scoring in the long jump.
Tanner Battikha jumped to third place in the long jump via his leap of 23-11 ¾, while Alejandro Goldston (seventh place, 23-3 ½) and Ryan Chase (eighth, 23-3 ¼) also scored.
Chase posted a third-place finish in the heptathlon, tallying 5,333 points over the course of the two-day event. His total is the second-best haul in program history.
“I’m pretty happy with it,” Chase said of his heptathlon performance. “I ended up getting personal bests in five of the seven events, so it went pretty well. There’s a couple of events that I wanted to do a bit better in, but overall I’m really excited about how it went.”
Graham Thomas registered the men’s final third-place finish on the day with his run in the men’s 5,000. In his final race of his Lobo career, Thomas crossed the line in 14:56.08.
Alexander Palm also scored in the 5,000, running to sixth in 15:03.52.
Most of the other track events ran preliminaries Friday, with UNM advancing athletes to the finals in a number of races.
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| Ryan Chase |
For the men, Josh Kerr won the mile prelims in 4:11.81, leading two other Lobos, Elmar Engholm (fifth, 4:12.77) and Taylor Potter (10th, 4:15.22), into the finals.
In the sprints, two athletes both moved on in the meet and up in the record books as Ben Shield advanced in the 60 dash (fourth, 6.81) and Carlos Salcido moved on in the 200 (seventh, 21.64). They now rank seventh and sixth all-time at New Mexico in their respective events.
Gavin Sleeter also qualified to Saturday’s final in the 800, placing sixth in the prelims with a time of 1:53.06.
For the women, Sophie Connor advanced in the 800 (fourth, 2:09.55) and Kendall Kelly moved on in the mile (seventh, 4:59.20).
Through day two, the New Mexico women leads the 11-team field with 35.5 points. Fresno State is second with 28 points, while Nevada (26 points), Colorado State (25.5) and Boise State (24) round out the top five. UNLV (sixth place, 22 points), Wyoming (seventh, 19), San José State (eighth, 15), Utah State (ninth, 14), Air Force (10th, 13) and San Diego State (11th, 12) sit sixth through 11th.
The men’s results have the Colorado State men are leading with 88 points. Air Force is second with 55 points, with the Lobos in third place with 34 points. Utah State (28 points) is fourth, with Wyoming (17 points) in fifth and Boise State (6) in sixth.
The final day of the championships begin at 10 a.m. MT with the women’s shot put and at noon with the final of the men’s mile. Check back at GoLobos.com for a complete recap.
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