ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The meet may have been the largest the Lobos will face all indoor season, but they didn’t certainly didn’t shy away from the competition.
Powered by its talented mid-distance and distance runners, the University of New Mexico track & field team continued to gain experience for the championship season at the Don Kirby Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
With the Mountain West Championships in two weeks — and the NCAA Championships in less than a month — the Lobos registered a number of strong marks in their final regular-season home meet, including solid times in the men’s and women’s mile runs.
“We had some really nice performance here this weekend, in particular the mile,” New Mexico head coach Joe Franklin said. “This weekend is an unbelievable weekend with people from all across the country.”
Hosting a field that featured seven top-25 Division I teams among the 42 teams in attendance, the Lobos made a number of positive strides toward the postseason.
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| Alondra Negron Texidor |
Some athletes made a claim for a spot on New Mexico’s MW Championships squad, while others made progress on bids for the NCAA Championships in March.
The mile run was one highlight for UNM on the second day of the two-day meet, with two runner-up finishes between the men’s and women’s race.
On the women’s side, Alondra Negron Texidor posted her best performance of the season, running a time of 4:46.27 that placed second overall and first collegiately. Her time ranks seventh in UNM history.
Kieran Casey clocked a time of 4:48.19 to place third overall and move to ninth all-time in program history, while Alex Buck set a new personal record with a ninth-place time of 5:05.43.
In the men’s mile, Ian Crowe-Wright moved to 10th all-time at UNM with his runner-up time of 4:06.42. Alexander Palm finished fourth in 4:11.01, with Linton Taylor (sixth place, time of 4:13.51) and Jared Garcia (10th, 4:18.70) also placing top-10.
The men’s and women’s 3000 also produced some strong finishes on Friday, with Jonny Glen (second, 8:31.31) and Jacob Simonsen (sixth, 8:41.29) in the men’s race and Natasha Bernal (second, 10:03.83) and Elizabeth Reyes (10th, 10:48.52) in the women’s.
Additionally, Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen finished third overall and tops collegiately in the men’s 800 (1:51.25).
The sprints were also the source of solid results, with Jay Griffin in the men’s 200 (10th, 21.44), Mark Haywood in the men’s 400 (ninth, 48.20) and the duo of Larimar Rodriguez (fifth, 1:34.29) and Steffi Jones (ninth, 1:36.78) in the women’s 600.
Shalom Keller clocked a collegiate best of 56.76 in the 400 that ranks eighth all-time in program history.
In the field events, Ada’ora Chigbo tied for fourth in the women’s high jump with a clearance of 5 feet, 8 inches, while Brent Dionisio tied for ninth in the men’s high jump with a mark of 6-5 ½.
Additionally, Daniel Lam equalled his personal best in the pole vault with an 11th-place clearance of 16-6 ¾, while Sarah McKeever climbed to seventh in program history in the event with a mark of 12-9 ½.
The Lobos are off next week as they prepare to host the Mountain West Indoor Championships February 22-24 at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
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