AZUSA, Calif. — When he burst onto the scene with his national title in the mile run last month, Josh Kerr wasn’t a household name.
But, after Friday night, he’s likely going to be the talk of the town.
Kerr, a sophomore athlete for the University of New Mexico track & field team, raced into the record books at the Bryan Clay Invitational on Friday, pacing a strong team effort from the Lobos in the squad’s first large-scale competition outdoors.
New Mexico, competing its full team for just the first time during the outdoor season, made the most of its trip to the Cougar Athletic Stadium, with athletes logging personal records and strong finishes in a massive, nationally broadcast meet.
And Kerr was the headliner, backing up his phenomenal NCAA title with an exceptional race on Friday.
The Edinburgh, Scotland, native scorched the track in the men’s 1,500-meter run, finishing with a spectacular time of 3 minutes, 35.99 seconds. He finished first in the fastest section and first among the 269 athletes that finished the event.
Kerr’s mark not only smashed the former school record (3:37.35) held by Lee Emanuel, the last Lobo to win a NCAA mile title, but it also moved to sixth all-time in NCAA history.
| NCAA All-Time Best List 1,500-meter run |
||||||
| 1. | Sydney Maree Villanova |
3:35.30 | 6/6/1981 | |||
| 2. | Kyle Merber Columbia |
3:35.59 | 5/14/2012 | |||
| 3. | Abdi Bile George Mason |
3:35.79 | 6/6/1987 | |||
| 4. | Brian Hyde William & Mary |
3:35.84 | 5/13/1995 | |||
| Joe Falcon William & Mary |
3:35.84 | 4/16/1988 | ||||
| 6. | Josh Kerr New Mexico |
3:35.99 | 4/14/2017 | |||
He also ran to the world lead in the event in 2017 and reached the qualifying standard for the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London.
However, Kerr wasn’t the only Lobo making strides at the Bryan Clay Invitational, which played host to thousands of athletes.
With the Mountain West Championships in less than a month and the first round of the NCAA Championships two weeks later, New Mexico has started to put athletes in position to make an impact in the postseason.
The top 48 athletes in each event in the NCAA’s West Region advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Championship, which is the qualifying meet for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
On Thursday, New Mexico received a number of fast times in the 5,000-meter run, including a third-place time of 15:53.28 by Alice Wright. She was joined by Natasha Bernal (14th overall, time of 16:28.34) and the duo of Sophie Eckel (first in her section, 16:34.26) and Kendall Kelly (second behind Eckel, 16:36.20).
Alexander Palm (14:11.88) and Emil Danielsson (14:16.79) also ran to strong times in their section of the 5K, placing third and eighth, respectively.
Along with Kerr, Graham Thomas also set a new personal best in the 1500, running 3:50.34. Kieran Casey ran 4:25.56 to lead the women’s metric mile contingent.
Additionally, Larimar Rodriguez (2:14.72) and Hannah Riker-Urrutia (2:14.99) ran to lifetimes best in the women’s 800, while Gavin Sleeter raced to a time of 1:51.61 in the men’s 800.
The Lobos also performed well in the sprints and hurdles. Mark Haywood (fourth, 47.66) and Carlos Salcido (fifth, 47.76) both registered new personal bests in the 400 before combining with Cheyne Dorsey and Isaac Gonzales to run a winning time of 3:09.58 in the 4×400 meter relay.
Erynn Caldwell also snapped up a season best in the women’s 100 (12.26), while the Lobos’ group of 400 hurdles clocked solid times behind Mustafa Mudada (sixth, 52.68) and Dorsey (15th, 54.00) for the men and Kyra Mohns (16th, 1:02.27) for the women.
Out in the field events, New Mexico continued to dazzle, especially in the jumps.
Jannell Hadnot leaped to third in the invitational section of the women’s triple jump (42 feet, 10 ¼ inches) and logged a PR in the long jump (19 ½), while Sam Trigg also claimed third in the invitational section of the men’s triple jump (51-9 ¼).
Tanner Battikha notched his own PR in the long jump, leaping 24-1 ¾ to take third overall.
Elsewhere, Mohns posted a PR of 5,125 points in the two-day heptathlon to place fourth overall and move to fifth in UNM history. Additionally, Allison Mady logged an outdoor PR of 44-8 ¾ in the shot put.
At the Mt. SAC Relays in nearby Torrance, California, Amaris Blount finished with a mark of 172-7 in the hammer throw.
The Lobos return to action next weekend as they head to Stanford for the inaugural Cardinal Classic on April 21-22.
Fans can follow the Lobos on Twitter (@lobo_track) and Instagram (@lobo_xc_tf) for information and updates on the team!