DAY 1 RECAP | SATURDAY RESULTS (PDF) | MILLROSE GAMES RESULTS | PHOTO GALLERY
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— While The University of New Mexico closed out its indoor regular season with the Don Kirby Collegiate Elite Invitational on Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center, UNM history was being made on the other side of the country by Weini Kelati.
Running in the prestigious Millrose Games and donning the iconic turquoise jersey, the sophomore distance runner ran against some of the elite runners in the sport in front of a national audience and turned in a record-setting performance.
After getting caught up in a fall that occurred in the early stages of the women’s 3,000-meter race, Kelati rallied to move from ninth to sixth, and continued to make her way through the pack. Kelati reattached to the lead pack and into fourth, where she remained from the 1600-meter mark until the 2000-meter mark. Kelati ultimately finished in sixth, however, it was her time of 8:53.98 that was the true accomplishment. Her time produced the fastest time in UNM program history in the indoor 3000-meter run, beating out current Lobo Ednah Kurgat’s time of 8:57.47 by 3.49 seconds.
Her time also puts her in the top 10 in the NCAA this year.
Also of significance is this marks the second school record that Kelati has set this indoor season, after breaking the program record in the mile two weeks ago at the UNM Team Invitational on Jan. 26.
Back in Albuquerque, Michael Wilson and Kristian Hansen went 1-2 in the 800-meter run with their times of 1:49.94 (1:49.33 converted) and 1:50.15 (1:49.54 converted), respectively. Max Wharton gave UNM three runners in the top five with his fourth-place finish of 1:51.15 (1:50.53). Wilson’s win was the lone Lobo win on the day, although UNM had five top-five finishers.
Larimar Rodriguez represented the Lobo women in the 800-meter with a top-three finish of 2:14.62 (2:13.87 converted) in her first run of the event this year. Behind her in sixth was Steffi Jones, who crossed the line at 2:15.20 (2:14.45 converted), resulting in a season best for the sophomore.
Junior Samantha Dicker improved on her season best time in the event with a 2:33.44 converted time to improve by almost a full second.
Jonny Glen continued the success on the track for the Lobos with a runner-up result in the mile, running a personal-best 4:05.80 converted time (4:11.27). His previous best was a 4:11.15 that he ran at the UNM Team Invitational earlier this season, an improvement of 5.35 seconds.
On the women’s side, MacKenzie Everett produced a top-10 result with a season-best 5:07.94 (converted) in the mile, placing her 10th overall.
In the triple jump, Aidan Quinn continued to increase his season-best mark with a 49-5.50 (15.07m) that he achieved on his third jump. The freshman finished tied for fifth in the event while improving his mark by 2.50″ from last Saturday’s competition.
Junior Cathilee Mullings set a personal best in the women’s triple jump with a 40-6.00 (12.34m) on her third jump to earn a ninth-place finish. Although she only got three jumps in the event, freshman Diamond Black made the last one count, jumping a season-best 37-7.75 (11.47m) to improve on her previous season-best mark of 35-11.25. Fellow freshman Mathe Roee also used her final jump to set a season best with her 37-2.50 (11.34m) mark.
Senior Ryan Chase also recorded a season best mark in the shot put with a throw of 42-10.25 (13.06m) on his opening throw.
In the pole vault, Shannon Fritz continues to increase her heights as the season progresses, reaching 12-2.75 (3.73m) on Saturday for a personal best for the junior.
The Lobos are off next weekend, but return to the Albuquerque Convention Center on Feb. 21 for the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships.