4 Individuals, 2 Relay Teams Slated to Compete at NCAAs
Women’s Declarations | Men’s Declarations
INDIANAPOLIS — Four University of New Mexico track & field athletes and two relay teams have declared to compete at the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 9-10, the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee announced Tuesday.
Slated to compete at the NCAA Championships next weekend in College Station, Texas, are Josh Kerr and a distance medley relay team for the men and Ednah Kurgat, Weini Kelati, Alice Wright and a distance medley relay team for the women.
The top 16 individual athletes and the top 12 relay teams in every championship event advance to the national meet, which will be contested at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University next Friday and Saturday.
On the men’s side, Kerr heads back to College Station looking to defend his NCAA mile title on the same track he won it all last year.
Seeded No. 1 in the event with a UNM- and Mountain West-record time of 3 minutes, 54.72 seconds, Kerr ranks fifth in NCAA history in the event and is looking to become the first athlete to win consecutive mile titles since former Lobo Lee Emanuel in 2009-10.
Kerr also qualified in the distance medley relay, where he will team up with Ian Crowe-Wright, Carlos Salcido and Michael Wilson as they look to validate their winning performance from the MW Championships.
The quartet leads the NCAA’s rankings with an altitude-converted time of 9:24.73 that is superior to the standing NCAA record of 9:25.97 when the altitude conversion is applied. However, the conversion is only used for NCAA qualification, not for official records.
On the women’s side, Kurgat and Kelati will both be competing in the 3000- and 5000-meter runs.
Kurgat is seeded No. 2 in the NCAA in the 5000 with a time of 15:19.03 that ranks seventh in NCAA history. She’s also seeded third in the 3000 with a school-record clocking of 8:57.47. Kelati ranks No. 4 in the 5000 (15:37.03) and No. 8 in the 3000 (8:59.77).
Between Kurgat and Kelati, it’s the first time in program history that two Lobos will be competing in the same two events at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Alice Wright is also slated to competed in the 5000, where she is seeded 15th with a time of 15:46.85. It’s the first in program history three athletes have qualified to the NCAA Championships in the same event.
Additionally, the relay team of Kieran Casey, Shalom Keller, Alondra Negron Texidor and Kurgat have also qualified in the DMR where they are seeded third in the nation with a school-record mark of 10:57.77.
Although the first time two DMRs have qualified, this year marks the fourth consecutive year that UNM has qualified a DMR team to the NCAAs, with the Lobo women taking a DMR in 2015 and 2016 and the men advancing a DMR in 2017.
The four individual qualifiers and the six qualifiers from the relays rank as the second-largest party ever qualified to the NCAA Championships in program history, with a party of 11 athletes (five men, two women and a women’s relay team) coming in as the largest group.
Additionally, with the three individuals and two relay teams accepting bids for the NCAAs, the Lobos are sending at least four athletes to the indoor championships for the 10th consecutive year, extending the longest streak in program history.
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