Lobo Men Win New Mexico Invite, Women Place 2nd

Complete Results | Team Scores

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —  It might have just been a single-day meet, but there was no lack of fireworks for the Lobos.

The University of New Mexico’s track & field team registered a strong all-around showing at the New Mexico Team Invitational Saturday as the men’s squad nabbed the team title and the women claimed runner-up honors.

The Lobos received superb results from a number of events at the Albuquerque Convention Center, earning seven individual titles and two school records as they continued to open their season with strong team showings.

“I thought this was a great meet,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “We had great individual performances, and the team did well, placing first and second overall. There were some really great things that happened today.”

As the Lobos continue to open up their 2018 season — Saturday’s meet was just the second for the team and the first for a handful of athletes — the New Mexico Invite proved to be a good litmus test for the team.

The UNM men scored 121 points en route to their win, defeating Texas State (100 points), Washington State (99.5), TCU (96), Grand Canyon (76.5) and Utah State (71).

Charlotte Prouse

The women finished with 89 points, with Texas State claiming the women’s team title with 121 points. San Diego State (84.5 points), Washington State (69.5), Utah State (61.5), Grand Canyon (59.5), TCU (54) and New Mexico State (34) finished third though eights.

New Mexico’s middle-distance and distance events were exceptionally productive on Saturday, with five individual wins.

For the women, Charlotte Prouse posted a strong UNM debut on the track, nabbing the title in the mile run with a time of 4 minutes, 47.63 seconds.

The Lobos swept the top five spots in the event, with Weini Kelati (second place, 4:52.53), Kieran Casey (third, 4:53.55), Alondra Negron Texidor (fourth, 4:58.57) and Emily Martin (fifth, 5:01.13) rounding out the team’s scoring attack.

“I can’t really ask for anything more than getting the lineup with all of the teammates,” Prouse said. “It went well.”

The men’s milers also shined, led by individual titlist Ian Crowe-Wright (4:15.08) and runner-up Michael Wilson (4:16.90). That duo also swapped places in the 800-meter run, with WIlson winning in 1:55.17 and Crowe-Wright placing second in 1:55.34.

Additionally, Taylor Potter (fourth, 4:17.62), Jonny Glen (fifth, 4:20.54) and Jacob Simonsen (seventh, 4:24.90) scored in the mile, with Iolo Hughes (fifth, 1:58.57) and Chris Graham (seventh, 2:00.25) scoring in the 800.

Glen (third, 8:44.44) and Simonsen (sixth, 8:55.29) also scored in the 3000.

For the women, Kendall Kelly ran to a win in the 3000 with a time of 10:08.12, followed by Sophie Eckel in fifth (10:23.94). Larimar Rodriguez and Steffi Jones went 1-2 in the 600, finishing in 1:34.86 and 1:36.09. Casey also scored in the 800 (2:17.92)

On top of the strong showings in those events, New Mexico also earned a pair of school records some shorter races, including Mark Haywood’s second in as many weeks.

Haywood zoomed to a time of 1:18.10 in the men’s 600, placing second overall and eclipsing his own benchmark of 1:19.02 set last week. Ben Parmoon also climbed into the all-time top 10 at UNM, running 1:20.68 to place fourth overall and to move to seventh at New Mexico.

Carlos Salcido added his own school record, rocketing to a winning time of 21.29 to break Ridge Jones’ three-year-old record of 21.43.

	Carlos Salcido

“It means a lot to get the school record in the 200,” Salcido said. “I’ve been working hard towards getting it. I’ve had this goal in my mind since last year’s outdoor season when I started getting better at the 200; I thought this was definitely an achievable goal.”

Jay Griffin joined Salcido in scoring, running 21.44 as he placed third and moved to third in UNM history.

The team’s 4×400 meter relay teams also contributed, with Salcido, Haywood, Parmoon and Isaac Gonzales placing second (3:13.86) for the men and Rodriguez, Keller, Shalom Keller and Elisabetta Mackin placing fourth (3:56.93) for the women.

In the field events, Ada’ora Chigbo won the women’s high jump with a superlative mark of 5 feet, 10 ¾ inches, missing a school record by a quarter inch. Shannon Fritz also scored in the high jump (T-7th, 5-3 ¼), while Sarah McKeever tied for third in the women’s pole vault (12-4 ½).

Brent Dionisio logged a runner-up finish in the men’s high jump (6-7 ½), while Jason Atencio tallied a fifth-place finish in the men’s pole vault (15-7).

The men’s jumps also saw a handful of scoring marks, with Tanner Battikha scoring the long jump (fifth, 23 ½) and triple jump (eighth, 45-7), Omarei Gregory scoring in the triple jump (fifth, 47-7 ¾) and Miles Brinson scoring and setting a new personal record in the long jump (eighth, 22-2 ¼).

The Lobos are back in action next weekend for the third of four straight home meets when they host the New Mexico Classic next Friday and Saturday.

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