Distance Runners Power Lobos at NCAA Championships
EUGENE, Ore. — Competing against the best at one of the most historic venues in college track & field, the Lobos continued to perform as one of the NCAA’s elite distance programs.
Charlotte Prouse earned runner-up honors in the 3000-meter steeplechase and Ednah Kurgat finished sixth in the 5,000-meter run as the University of New Mexico track & field team closed out the 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday.
Combined with Alice Wright’s fourth-place finish in the 10,000-meter run on Thursday, the UNM women track & field team tied for 17th place at the meet with 16 team points. Josh Kerr led the New Mexico men’s team into a tie for 43rd place with six team points.
Both the men’s and women’s teams scored at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the sixth time under 11th-year head coach Joe Franklin.
The story of the meet, which was the last at Hayward Field before it undergoes a major renovation, was the performance of the Lobos’ dauntless group of distance runners.
 |
|
| Alice Wright |
Behind the trio of Prouse, Wright and Kurgat, the New Mexico women tallied the highest finish by a non-Power Five women’s team at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Lobos also emerged with four All-Americans — Prouse, Wright, Kurgat and Kerr — for the first time since 2015.
Prouse led the way on the final day of the four-day meet, rallying over the final laps of the 3000 steeplechase to place second overall in 9:45.45.
After running the majority of the race between third and fifth place, Prouse unleashed a strong kick over the final 300 meters, closing a sizeable gap en route to second. She held onto that position through the finish line for her first First-Team All-American honor in track.
Her time, a season best and less than a second from a lifetime best, is the third-fastest in program history, giving her six of the top-10 performances all-time at New Mexico.
In the UNM record books, Prouse ranks only behind NCAA record holder Courtney Frerichs, who won the 2016 steeplechase title in 9:24.41.
Kurgat chipped in her own All-American finish in the 5000-meter run, holding on over the final 800 meters to place sixth overall with a time of 15:46.31.
The leader for most of the race, Kurgat was able to withstand a number of kicks by various competitors en route to becoming just the program’s second All-American in the event along with Calli Thackery (sixth, 2015).
Weini Kelati also competed in the 5000, placing ninth in 15:46.57. She finished 0.07 seconds out of All-American honors, which are earned via a top-eight finish in an event.
 |
|
| Josh Kerr |
On Thursday, Wright captured her fourth-straight All-American honor in the women’s 10,000, finishing the 25-lap race in 32:17.92 to place fourth overall. She is just the first female athlete in NCAA history to earn four consecutive All-American honors in the women’s 10,000.
Competing in a stacked field, Wright quickly moved to the front of the pack, holding the lead through the first five kilometers. After yielding the lead halfway through the race, she remained in the lead pack for the remainder of the event, outkicking the 2017 champion Charlotte Taylor of San Francisco on the homestretch for fourth place.
Wright is the first female athlete in Mountain West and UNM history to be a four-time All-American in any event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Over her career, Wright earned eight All-American honors between cross country (four) and track & field (four). No athlete in program history has as many honors.
On the men’s side, Josh Kerr’s third-place performance in Friday’s finals of the 1500-meter run merited the Lobos six team points as he earned a second straight All-American selection.
The 2017 1500-meter champion and NCAA recorder holder in the event, Kerr clocked a time of 3:45.02 under a steady rain as his patented bell-lap kick fell just short at the line. Kerr finished exactly a quarter of a second behind Wisconsin’s Oliver Hoare, who won in 3:44.77.
Two other men competed in the semifinals of their respective events.
Ian Crowe-Wright clocked a time of 3:48.65 to place ninth overall in the semifinals of the 1500, which Kerr won in 3:47.47. Carlos Salcido ran a time of 46.39 in the semifinals of the 400, placing seventh in his heat and 20th overall.
The Georgia men won the their first-ever NCAA title outdoors with a final score of 52 points, ahead of second-place Florida (42 points) and third-place Houston (35 points).
USC’s women won the NCAA women’s championship in the final event of the meet, the 4×400 meter relay, scoring 53 points to edge runner-up Georgia (52 points) and third-place Stanford (51 points).
Fans can follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Twitter and Instagram to keep track of the Lobos!