UNM Qualifies Three in 5000m on Final Day of NCAA West Preliminary
SACRAMENTO, Calif.— On the final day of the NCAA West Preliminary and in the final event scheduled for The University of New Mexico track and field team, the Lobos had three runners qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 5000-meters.
Under the format of the top-five finishers from each of the two heats and the next two best times advancing to the championships in Austin, Texas, Weini Kelati and Adva Cohen claimed their spot through finishing in the top five, while Charlotte Prouse advanced on time.
Kelati ran 15:39.64 to win her heat, which took a slower pace than the first heat which Cohen, Prouse and Ednah Kurgat ran in.
The Lobos ran together up in the front of the pack early on, with UNM having three in the top five at third, fourth and fifth with 10 laps to go with Kurgat, Prouse and Cohen, respectively. The trio would go on to hold their position through the next five laps. Prouse moved in to third in front of Kurgat with Cohen in fifth at the 3200-meter split. With four laps to go, Prouse was fourth, Cohen fifth and Kurgat sixth and Cohen moved in to fourth with three to go. With one lap remaining, Cohen was in fourth and Kurgat seventh with Prouse 0.65 seconds behind her.
Cohen was the first Lobo to finish at 15:38.82, placing her fifth and giving her the final automatic qualifier spot. Down the stretch, Prouse passed Kurgat with Prouse finishing seventh at 15:43.56 and Kurgat eighth at 15:45.03.
In addition, Prouse’s time was a personal best by 32.86 seconds, which came less than 24 hours after she ran and qualified in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
In the second heat, Kelati ran with the front pack early on and waited out her time before she made her move to create separation en route to winning her heat in 15:39.64.
From the start, the sophomore settled in to second where she remained with six laps to go. Kelati made the move to take the lead at the nine-minute mark and continued to lead with four to go. From there, Kelati made her final move to pull away and pushed the pace to build a substantial lead of 3.45 seconds with three to go. With two to go, she held a 5.79 second lead which grew to 7.41 seconds with one to go. The Lobo crossed at 15:39.64, 4.99 seconds ahead of the next finisher, to claim her spot to the NCAA Championships.
Based on the two next fastest times of both heats, Prouse advanced with the final qualifier spot. However, although Kurgat had the 10th-fastest time among all runners in both heats, she missed the cut by one spot.
Cohen produced the fifth-fastest overall time, followed by Kelati with the sixth-best overall time and Prouse with the eighth-fastest time.
As a result of Saturday’s finish, Cohen, Kelati and Prouse qualified for the NCAA championships in multiple events, with Prouse and Cohen qualifying in the 5000-meter and the 3000-meter steeplechase and Kelati in the 10,000-meter and the 5000-meter.
This however will be the first time that Kelati and Prouse will be competing in multiple events at the championships after Kelati ran the 5000-meters last year and Prouse ran the steeplechase.
Kurgat already qualified in the 10,000-meter with Kelati on Thursday, bringing the total number of qualifiers to four runners and seven entries in three events.
Of note, it will mark the 13th consecutive year that the Lobos will have representation at the NCAA outdoor championship on the women’s side, extends a 13-year run of at least four athletes advancing to the national championships and the sixth consecutive year that UNM will have a runner in the 10,000-meter, fifth on the women’s side.
This year’s contingent is further significant in that it is the first time since 1990 (Lavern Clarke, long and triple jump) that a Lobo has qualified for, and will be competing in, multiple events in the outdoor championship.
In other events on the final day, Michael Wilson ran a time of 4:00.35 in the 1500-meter quarterfinals. In the two triple jump events, Cathilee Mullings was unable to record a mark on her three attempts, while Aidan Quinn’s only legal attempt came in the second round with a 44-11 (13.69m).
Up next for UNM is the NCAA Championships to be held in Austin, Texas from June 5-8. The women’s steeplechase is scheduled for Thursday, June 6 at 6:32 p.m. MT with the 10,000-meter set for Thursday at 8:38 p.m. MT. The women’s 5000-meter is scheduled for the final day, Saturday, at 6:25 p.m. MT.