No. 8 Women, No. 20 Men Achieve Program-Best Rankings
Women’s Rankings | Men’s Rankings | Combined Top 25 | Team-by-Team Breakdown
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s and women’s track & field teams achieved their highest rankings ever in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Team Computer Rankings released Monday.
After tremendous performances at the Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships last week, the Lobo women surged to a program-best ranking of No. 8, while the UNM men registered their first-ever top-25 ranking in indoor track & field at No. 20.
Overall, this is the seventh week in program history that the New Mexico women have been ranked top 25, with all coming since 2015, with the men eclipsing their all-time regular-season best of 30th set during the 2014 indoor season.
The rankings, which credit the women with 84.30 points and the men with 45.34, are calculated using athletes’ best marks from only this season.
On the women’s side, the Lobos climbed up from 11th last week and 10th two weeks ago on the legs of their vaunted distance runners.
The Bowerman Watch List member Ednah Kurgat leads New Mexico in the rankings, contributing 40.84 points to the squad’s total.
She currently ranks second in the NCAA in the 5,000-meter run with her time of 15:19.03 (good for 20.99 points), third in the 3000 (8:54.47 for 17.35 points) and 12th in the mile run (4:35.29 for 2.50 points).
Kurgat also teamed up with Kieran Casey, Shalom Keller and Alondra Negron Texidor for the nation’s third-best time in the distance medley relay (10:57.77) that adds 17.85 points.
Weini Kelati also adds significantly to the Lobos’ standing with her fourth-ranked time of 15:37.03 in the 5000 (15.33 points) and her ninth-ranked time of 8:59.77 in the 3000 (7.99).
Also contributing are Alice Wright in the 5000 (15:46.85 for 1.72 points), Charlotte Prouse in the 5000 (16:01.15 for 0.08 points) and Ada’ora Chigbo in the high jump (5 feet, 11 ¼ inches for 0.50 points).
On the men’s side, Josh Kerr has powered the men to their first-ever appearance in the top 25 with his nation-leading time of 3:54.72 in the mile that contributed 21.81 points to the men’s total of 45.34 points. He also adds 1.27 points via his 18th-ranked time of 1:48.87 in the 800.
However, the quartet of Kerr, Ian Crowe-Wright, Carlos Salcido and Michael Wilson provides the largest portion of the men’s points as their nation-best time of 9:24.73 in the DMR counts for 22.14 points.
That time set the New Mexico record and ranks as one of the best times in NCAA history.
Wilson rounds out the Lobos’ total with his 30th-ranked mark of 1:49.08 in the 800 (0.11 points).
New Mexico is the only school outside of the Power Five conference with both their men’s and women’s teams ranked in the top 25. 11 other schools have both genders ranked.
The Lobos’ next competition will be the NCAA Indoor Championship in College Station, Texas, on March 9-10. Declarations for the NCAA Championships will be announced Tuesday, February 27.
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