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NCAA Outdoor ChampionshipsSet against the historic backdrop of Hayward Field in the track-centric city of Eugene, Oregon, this week’s NCAA Championships is shaping up to be an momentous affair.
Hundreds of years of history — starting with the first Lobo track athletes back in the 1900s and the dawn of track at Hayward in 1921 — are about to come to a head.
“It’s hard not to get excited when you’re mixing the tradition that we have with the tradition of Hayward Field,” Lobo head coach Joe Franklin said. “This is special.”
But for the talented group of Lobos competing, “special” is nothing new.
The University of New Mexico track & field team is aiming for superlative performances as it sends seven athletes to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships this Wednesday through Saturday at Hayward Field.
Set to compete for the 18th-ranked Lobo women are Ednah Kurgat (5000-meter run), Weini Kelati (5000), Alice Wright (10,000), and Charlotte Prouse (3000 steeplechase). For the men, it will be Josh Kerr (1500), Ian Crowe-Wright (1500) and Carlos Salcido (400) competing.
It’s the second time in the last three years UNM had at least seven athletes make the NCAAs, and the seven qualifiers extends an 12-year run of at least four athletes advancing to the meet.
“It’s a good group that’s going,” Franklin said. “You have Josh, the fastest 1500-meter runner in the history of the sport that represents the state and the University of New Mexico. And then you have Ian, who’s right behind him, and Carlos. And then you have these four women who were the leaders on our second national championship team.”
The goal for that historically remarkable group — which includes the top four scorers for UNM cross country’s reigning NCAA champion squad — is to score, which is a tall task as they compete against the best of nation’s best on one of the biggest stages.
Only the top eight finishers out of 24 competitors score team points and earn All-American status in each event.
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| Josh Kerr |
But, New Mexico has history on its side at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, earning a pair of individual titles and 21 top-eight finishes since Franklin‘s first season at UNM in 2008.
Kerr owns one of those individual titles, earning his first outdoor crown in the 1500 last year. A three-time defending NCAA champ in the middle distance between indoor and outdoor track, Kerr is the NCAA record holder in the metric mile with a time of 3 minutes, 35.01 seconds.
He’ll have to contend with a talented field to win another title, but, unlike his past two appearances at the meet, he’ll have a wingman in Crowe-Wright.
Hardly anyone’s second fiddle, Crowe-Wright has posted a productive debut season in Albuquerque, capturing a runner-up finish in the 1500 at the Mountain West Championships en route to the NCAAs.
Kerr and Crowe-Wright are the first male tandem in program history to advance to the NCAA Championships in the 1500.
Salcido rounds out the men’s contingent as he competes in the 400 at his first NCAA Outdoor Championship. The MW champ in the 200, Salcido stepped up in distance at the NCAA West Preliminary Round and stormed onto Eugene with a personal-record clocking of 45.99.
He ranks third all-time in program history and is the first Lobo and third MW athlete to make the meet in the 400 since 2009.
On the women’s side, a shot at history is potentially in the offing for the 18th-ranked Lobos.
New Mexico has finished in the top 25 of the NCAA Outdoor Championships just once, a 15th-place finish two years ago. But that may change this week as UNM heads to Eugene with four highly ranked and very fast runners.
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| Ednah Kurgat |
All four of the Lobos’ entrants are ranked in the top five of their respective events, with two athletes, Kurgat and Kelati, racing together in the 5000.
The duo tore up the track in May, with Kurgat racing a school-record time of 15:20.06 and Kelati clocking in at 15:22.71, No. 2 in program history. They finished the regular season ranked Nos. 1 and 3 in the NCAA and make UNM the only women’s team in the nation with two sub-15:30 5K runners this season.
They are also the first pair of female teammates in program history to advance to the NCAA Championships in the 5000, and just the fourth and fifth athletes to make the meet in that event.
Wright is not only ranked right at the top of her event (No. 2 in the nation with her school-record time of 32:15.73), but she’s also the most experienced.
A three-time All-American in the event — and back-to-back runner-up — Wright has designs on becoming the first female athlete in NCAA history to be an All-American in the 10,000 at four straight championships. She’s already the first female athlete in program history to make four straight NCAA Championships in any event.
For Prouse, she heads to Hayward ranked fifth in the NCAA in the 3000 steeplechase with a season best of 9:50.47. Just the third Lobo to ever make the national finals in the event, Prouse is ranked second all-time at UNM behind NCAA record holder and 2016 NCAA champ Courtney Frerichs.
That 2016 championship was also the last time Prouse ventured to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she placed ninth overall in the steeplechase for Washington.
The meet is separated into the men’s championship on Wednesday and Friday and the women’s championship on Thursday and Saturday.
New Mexico will compete Wednesday in the prelims on the men’s 1500 and 400, with the women’s steeplechase and 10,000 on Thursday. The finals of the men’s 1500 and 400 are on Friday, followed by the women’s 5000 and the finals of the steeplechase on Saturday.
Fans can watch the meet live on the ESPN Family of Networks and online at ESPN3.com. View the broadcast schedule above for the complete breakdown.
Fans can follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Twitter and Instagram to keep track of the Lobos!