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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Four distance runners will represent The University of New Mexico women’s track and field team on college track and field’s biggest stage this weekend at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, the Lobos will have seven entries in three events with competitions on Thursday and Saturday.
UNM will have three student-athletes competing in multiple events, starting with Charlotte Prouse and Adva Cohen in the steeplechase semifinal on Thursday at 6:32 p.m. MT.
The top five from each of the two heats advance to the final on Saturday plus the next two best times. Cohen, competing in her first NCAA outdoor championship, is in the first heat, with Prouse in the second heat. Prouse enters the steeplechase having finished runner-up in 2018 following a time of 9:45.45 and will be making her third appearance at the championship, second as a Lobo.
Cohen has the third-fastest time this season in the steeplechase at 9:44.41 that she ran two weeks ago at the NCAA West Preliminary with Prouse producing the fifth-best time this season at the Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championship with 9:47.43. In the first heat, Cohen has the second-best seed time behind BYU’s Erica Birk, while Prouse holds the fourth-best seed time of 9:50.56 in her heat.
Thursday evening, the Lobos will have their first opportunity to score points in the 10,000-meter final with Weini Kelati and Ednah Kurgat, set for an 8:38 p.m. MT start time. It is the fifth consecutive year that UNM has had an entry in the 10,000-meter final but the first time that the Lobos will have two entries since 2009.
Kelati holds the school record as well as the Mountain West Championships record in the 10,000-meter after running 32:09.10 at the MW Championships and enters with the second-best time this season of the 24 entries behind Syracuse’s Paige Stoner. The sophomore enters the meet with a seed time of 33:15.21 that she ran at the NCAA West Preliminary, the third-fastest seed time. Kelati is also coming off of being named the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year.
Kurgat will make her second NCAA outdoor championship appearance, however this time in the 10,000-meter, which she holds the third-best time this season of the 24 entries with 32:14. 27 that she ran at the Stanford Invitational.
At the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Kelati placed ninth in the 5000-meters with 15:46:57 and Kurgat finished sixth in 15:46.31, with both earning all-American honors.
The steeplechase final will open UNM’s Saturday entries at 4:54 p.m. MT. Bringing to a close the meet for the Lobos will be a stacked field in the 5000-meter final at 6:25 p.m. MT in which the Lobos will have three entries in Cohen, Prouse and Kelati.
UNM has two of the top four times of the season in Kelati and Cohen, with Kelati holding the fastest time this season in the 5000 according to TFRRS. Kelati’s time of 15:23.46 is about a five second edge over Stoner, but Stoner will not be running the event. Cohen posted the fourth-best time this season at 15:31.01, both times the Lobo runners produced at the Bryan Clay Invitational. Of the 24 entries, UNM has the first- and third-best times with Boise State’s Allie Ostrander with the second-fastest time of the season at 15:30.94, which the Bronco ran at the NCAA West Preliminary. Prouse enters the championship meet with the second-best seed time of 15:43.56 from the NCAA prelims.
ESPN will be broadcasting the entirety of the four-day meet, with the steeplechase semifinal on ESPNU and the 10,000-meter final on ESPN2. Both running events on Saturday will be shown on ESPN2.
Live results will also be available HERE.
Historically, UNM scored 16 points in 2018 to tie for 17th place in the women’s team standings. UNM’s highest finish was 15th in 2016 with 18 points. In both years, the Lobos were the highest non-Power Five school in the team standings.