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Coming off one of their best meets of the outdoor season, the Lobos are looking to stay hot.
Up next: a small, high-power meet with some of the best teams in the nation.
With just a couple of meets remaining in the regular season, the University of New Mexico track & field team is looking to continue making strides for the postseason as it competes at the Cardinal Classic this Friday and Saturday.
Having put together a tremendous team performance last weekend at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, the Lobos return to the Golden State aiming for more strong results as they take to Cobb Track and Angell Field in Stanford, California.
“We’re going into a very small, high-powered meet at Stanford,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “There’s probably 15 teams, all very good. So we’re just going to go out there. It’s another week traveling and we’ll go out and compete hard.”
With just a few weeks left until the Mountain West Championships in mid-May, UNM is looking for progress, especially after the tremendous team showing last week in Azusa.
Along with Josh Kerr’s world-leading performance in the 1,500-meter run, the Lobos also received strong marks from its jumpers, distance runners, sprinters and multi-event athletes.
“Considering the week we had previous at Arizona State, which was unremarkable, [Bryan Clay] was the complete opposite,” Franklin said. “It was a great weekend. We had lots of lifetime bests and really good races, marks and jumps across the board.”
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| Natasha Bernal |
Continuing that upward trend is the goal for this weekend as New Mexico eyes the postseason.
Right after the MW Championships, the top 48 athletes in each event in the NCAA’s West Region advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Championship. From there, athletes can qualify to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
This weekend, the Lobos will compete most of its team as it looks to put together back-to-back strong showings.
In the field events, New Mexico has a number of athletes vying for big marks, including the trio of Tanner Battikha, Sam Trigg and Alejandro Goldston in the long jump and the threesome of Jason Atencio, Nathan Burnett and John Harari in the pole vault.
UNM’s throwers will also compete in force, with Malik Matthews-Gordon, Nik Aston and Daniel Lam in the javelin and Ryan Chase and Lam in both the shot put and discus.
For the women’s field event athletes, Shannon Fritz (pole vault/high jump) and Jannell Hadnot (long jump) are entered in the jumps, with Allison Mady (shot put/hammer throw), Kyra Mohns (shot put), Morgan Smith (javelin) and Amaris Blount (hammer) slated to compete in the throws.
On the track, Graham Thomas is scheduled to make his season debut in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, while Alexander Palm is entered in the 10,000-meter run. In the 1500, UNM will look to Emil Danielsson and Taylor Potter, with Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen and Gavin Sleeter in the 800.
The sprints/hurdles group of Goldston (100/200), Carlos Salcido (200), Mark Haywood (200), Isaac Gonzales (200) and Cheyne Dorsey (400 hurdles) will also aim for improvement.
Additionally, after running the program’s fastest time last week in Azusa, UNM’s 4×400 meter relay team of Dorsey, Gonzales, Haywood and Salcido will look to lower its time at Stanford.
On the women’s side, Natasha Bernal and Sarah Laverty are entered in the 3000 steeplechase and 10000, respectively. Kieran Casey and Lindsay Crevoiserat will run the 1500, with Sophie Eckel and Kendall Kelly double-entered in the 1500 and 5000.
Larimar Rodriguez and Hannah Riker-Urrutia are also running two events, racing the 400 and 800.
Rounding out the Lobos’ contingent are Erynn Caldwell (100/200), Peri Moran (100) and Mohns (100 hurdles/400 hurdles).
Fans can follow the Lobos on Twitter (@lobo_track) and Instagram (@lobo_xc_tf) for information and updates on the team!