HEAT SHEETS | SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | LIVE RESULTS | FLOTRACK
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— It will be a busy weekend for The University of New Mexico track and field team as Weini Kelati will run in the 112th Millrose Games on Saturday afternoon on NBC, the Lobos will have seven entries at the Husky Classic in Seattle as well as hosting the Don Kirby Collegiate Elite Invitational, which will be streamed on FloTrack.
The University of New Mexico track and field team closes out its final meet before the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championship with the Don Kirby Collegiate Elite Invitational this Friday and Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Competing in the meet will be another stacked lineup with top-25 ranked teams in the NCAA. Among them are Oregon, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon State, Utah and Washington State from the Pac-12. Mountain West teams Colorado State, UNLV, Utah State, Fresno State, and San Diego State will be making an appearance in advance of the championship hosted by UNM.
In addition, other schools that will be in attendance are Oklahoma State, Northern Arizona, Cal State Northridge, UTEP, Southern Utah, Grand Canyon, Stephen F. Austin, Northern Colorado, Tulane, Long Beach State, San Francisco, Campbell, UC Davis, UC Riverside and UC Irvine.
The Lobo women enter the meet ranked eighth in the latest TFRI rankings by USTFCCCA, with Oregon slightly ahead of them in sixth. Stanford ranks 17thand UCLA 30th. On the men’s side, Stanford ranks 10th while Oregon ranks 19th in the poll, Arizona is 27th and Northern Arizona 29th.
FloTrack has UNM ranked third with Oregon eighth, Stanford ninth and UCLA 20th. Stanford is ranked ninth and Oregon 12th on the men’s side.
Several Lobos head into the meet on an upward trend after setting season bests in last weekend’s meet, including freshman triple jumper Aidan Quinn, who has won the event the last two meets.
Ada’ora Chigbo currently sits 16th in the NCAA in the high jump after last Saturday’s 5-10.5 (1.79m) height clearance, but leads the Mountain West.
Events begin at 3 p.m. MT on Friday with the women’s long jump, followed by the men’s pole vault and women’s weight throw at 4 p.m. Track events start at 5 p.m. with the men’s unseeded 400-meter dash. There will be a total of 10 field events and eight track events on the first day.
Saturday’s events start at 9:30 a.m. with the women’s shot put and the women’s pole vault and women’s 60-meter hurdles at 10 a.m.
The meet will be streamed on FloTrack and can be found HERE. Results can be tracked HERE, and updates will be provided throughout the two days on the New Mexico Track and Field social media pages (New Mexico XC/T&F on Instagram and Twitter).
Fans can attend UNM home track meets using their New Mexico Mutual Pride Pass, which can be purchased for $50, and includes admission to all indoor track, baseball and softball home events. Tickets at the door will be $5 per day, and UNM students can get into the meet for free with their student ID.
To purchase your 2018-19 New Mexico Mutual Lobo Pride Pass click here.
You may also call 925-LOBO or visit the Lobo Ticket Office located in Dreamstyle Arena for more information.
HEAT SHEETS | SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | LIVE RESULTS WASHINGTON | MILLROSE LIVE RESULTS
While the majority of the track and field team will be competing at home in the Don Kirby Invitational, several University of New Mexico runners will be racing in Seattle in the Husky Classic and Weini Kelati will be in New York City at the 112th Millrose Games.
Adva Cohen, Ednah Kurgat, Hannah Nuttall, Emily Martin and Kieran Casey will represent UNM at the University of Washington in the mile, 3,000- and 5000-meter run.
Cohen, Kurgat, Nuttall are scheduled to run in the 3,000-meter race, Martin in the 5,000-meter and Casey, Cohen and Nuttall running in the mile.
Cohen holds the third-best time I the MW with her 4:39.75 produced last weekend at the New Mexico Classic, but sits 24th overall in the NCAA. Nuttall is behind her in the MW in fourth and 30th in the NCAA with 4:41.01.
Kurgat will be running for just the second time this year, but the first time in the 3,000-meter. In her first race of the season, Kurgat broke her school and Mountain West indoor record in the 5,000-meter, registering the third-fastest time in NCAA history. Her time in the event still holds as the fastest time in the NCAA this year. On Wednesday, Kurgat was named to The Bowerman Mid-Indoor Watch List as one of just 10 women selected.
In New York, Kelati will run the Women’s Fred Lebow Invitational 3000m at 2:36 p.m. MT against other collegiate runners such as Sharon Lokedi from Kansas and Alicia Monson from Wisconsin. The Millrose Games are billed as “The world’s longest-running and most prestigious indoor track and field competition.”
Like Kurgat, this will be the first time that Kelati will run the 3,000-meter this year. The sophomore, however, currently holds top times in two separate events in the NCAA this season. Kelati sits in second behind Kurgat in the 5,000-meters with the 15:15.24 that she ran at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in December. Kelati is third in the mile amongst NCAA runners with 4:33.34 that she posted at the New Mexico Team Invitational the last time she ran two weeks ago, which also broke the school record.
While both Kurgat and Kelati will be running the 3,000-meter on separate ends of the country, both will be trying to produce top times in the NCAA. The fastest time in the NCAA this season was 9:01.72, ran by Elly Henes of North Carolina State on Feb. 1.
Live results for both meets can be found HERE (Washington) and HERE (Millrose). Kelati’s race will be aired live on NBC on Saturday.